No matter what
by LucyDandaelion
Summary: Every sentient being possesses the capacity for change. But sometimes it takes a helping factor to induce a change. Will this factor be able to change Megatron, the Decepticons at all and influence the outcome of the war? *Takes place after Megatron has been buried under tons of rocks inside an energon mine*
1. Unexpected help

It was unbelievably hot.

Not, that the young woman was surprised by that simple fact. She had been fast to learn, that the sun was burning down on her every single day in this country, since she had been brought here. She had lost the feeling for her burnt skin long time ago but though, the heat was getting dangerous, especially when you didn't have enough to drink. But she didn't have had the opportunity to steal more than two small bottles of water before she escaped. That was two days ago…

She has emptied the second bottle the same morning after she woke up but going back was no option. For her attempted escape and for the stolen water she was sure, her tormentors would kill her this time. Well, if not for them she sure would be killed by starvation, exhaustion or anxiety of being tracked down any time soon. She has known that when she ran away but all of this was better than to prolong the ordeal she has been in any further! She rather dies trying to flee through the desert than to stay where she has been for a day longer!

The sound of shooting guns made her wince violently and stumble over her robes. She fell to the ground but the fear didn't allow her to waste time paying attention to her aching body.

She stood up immediately, grabbed her robes and started to run as fast as she could. She didn't know from what direction or from what distance the shots came but she was sure those must be her pursuers who tracked her down eventually. Frankly, it was a miracle they haven't found her till now.

She tried to ignore the panic within her or the pain in her legs or the exhaustion spreading in her body as she focused on the landscape around her to find a safe place to hide. A simple rock won't do in the slightest…

She almost fell a second time while abruptly stopping at the edge of a crater. It just took her seconds to realize her dilemma: she saw the entrance of what appeared to be a cave of sorts or a mine down the crater but there was no safe way to get down there!

Another shot, closer this time. She knew she had to move somehow, somewhere, before her body stopped listening to her out of fear so she decided to grab her robes even tighter, to lay down on the ground, turn herself around and to slip over the ledge. Feeling her feet dangling in the air made her whimper silently but she kept her fear in check and started to climb down the cliffs far too slow. It may have been 20 meters or maybe just 10, it didn't matter to her. She felt herself stiffening and trembling again and again though manage to hold on tight to the sharp rocks which cut her hands. The little strength she has had left her faster than she has expected but after what felt like an eternity she looked down and realized that there was only a short distance left to the ground. She sighed in relief when she felt her right foot slipping off the rocks she was standing on. Her eyes widened in shock.

She tried to grab another rock but her sweaty, bloody hands couldn't get a tight hold of it so she fell after all. It wasn't a dangerous altitude but the fall did hurt nevertheless! All air escaped her lungs. Her instinct shouted at her to get up and continue running but her body failed her this time, she even struggled not to faint. After a few terrifying moments, after she was able to breathe normally and her blurred view cleared a bit, she forced herself to get on her feet, surprised she found nothing broken! Without checking if she had been followed, she slowly limbed straight for the caves entrance. If the situation weren't so life threatening, she would have hesitated to enter the shadows but they meant safe cover. Cover and a welcome cold after having spent the whole day under a brutal deserts sun.

It didn't take long before she couldn't see anything in the deep darkness of the cave but as for now she was grateful for that. It wouldn't be easy to find her that way. She stopped now and then, carefully listening for any sounds that might reveal her pursuers but since she has entered the cave, there was nothing. They might have stayed behind at the caves entrance, she thought, waiting for her in case she decided to sneak out the same way she has sneaked in so that was not an option anymore. She had to find another way out. There has got to be another way out!

She has followed the tunnel for quite some time now, always with her hands on the rocks to lead her way in the darkness. The longer she walked, the more the way continued downhill. Slowly she lost track of time. How far did this tunnel go?

The question was still in her mind, when she felt the rock face made a sharp bend to the left. She knew that could have happen but she has feared it all the same. Because of the darkness, she couldn't estimate her surroundings. Was she still in the same tunnel through which she has entered the cave or whatever this was? Was this the first turn or did she miss another one by just following the wall on that one side? Was this a simple curve or were there other directions to go? Under no circumstances was she allowed to get lost in a maze of tunnels or rocks beneath the surface. It wouldn't take long for her to fall down a pit or to simply die of thirst or…

She froze when she reached a dead end. Just to be certain, she fumbled for another way but there was none. Swallowing hard, she turned around and followed the rock face back to where she came from. But she reached the bend far earlier than expected and it felt different from before. How was this possible? She has been concentrated all the time! When did she miss another bend, another tunnel? She tried to remain calm. Clearly her drained mind was playing tricks on her. There was no way she could have possibly overlooked …

Another dead end made it hard for her not to panic. No! She had to find the way back to the main tunnel in order to get an overview of the tunnels structure. After she did that…

 _Dead end._

Well, what if she finds the main tunnel? There was no way she could just go out the way she came from. But what, if that was indeed the only way out?

 _Dead end_.

What if she finds another way out? How far could she go before being captured by her pursuers or the authorities? Being a woman didn't make it easier here.

A rock hit her head hard which made her stop before she could run into another dead end. She hissed in pain but just for a blink of an eye. She hit the rock with her fists frantically, only ending up hurting herself again. She fell to her knees und trembled out of fear and anger. Was this how it was supposed to end? Successfully fleeing her tormentors only to die alone in a maze of cave tunnels? There had to be a way! She had to keep looking!

But, for now, she was not able to. She buried her face in her hands as if trying to hide from the darkness itself. She was tired and the lack of water made her throat feel dry and sore. Her whole body felt sore but most of all: she was alone. She tried to recall the faces of her family. Doing this always gave her strength during the past five years but now, in this hopeless situation, it made her feel very lonely and lost. She felt tears welling up in her eyes but did nothing to stop them. She needed that moment. She needed to calm down. To rest. She needed to remember why she escaped. Why she never has given up! She wanted to reunite with them again badly! Just a few minutes. After that, she will…

She opened her eyes suddenly when she felt the ground she was sitting on shaking a bit. First, she thought it was her imagination but then she felt it again. She felt the light quake and saw stones and dust tumbling down. Wait! With great surprise she realized that she was able to see her surroundings again, although vaguely at best. How was that possible being this deep down in the cave? There had to be a light source close by. Maybe another way out!

She took a deep breath and waited until the shaking stopped. When she felt she could stand again without wavering she jumped to her feet, grimacing at the pain in her legs. She didn't have to search long. She found dim light coming through a rock fissure which led steeply upwards to another tunnel, or cave maybe. The fissure was actually very small so she had to squeeze through and started to climb up to where the light was coming from. She handled half the way when she heard a rumble, followed by the earsplitting sound of metal scratching rocks. Was this indeed a mine and some miners doing their work in this exact moment? Her surroundings started to shake again, much stronger this time. Her eyes opened wide in horror. If she didn't want to get crushed between the rocks, she had to get out of this fissure! Now!

She climbed up the rocks as fast as she could and swung herself over the ledge. The same moment she managed to get out of her predicament, the ground started to shake violently, making it impossible for her to stand. She sprawled and tried to curl up tight to minimize the possibility for her being hit by rocks and rubble, the sound of the trembling cave droning in her ears. She felt some of the debris hitting her nevertheless but miraculously none of the dangerously big ones crushed her. Hopefully, the ceiling won't cave in! She waited until the magnitude of the quake decreased. Even after it became completely quiet again she did not dare to move right away. She waited for her heartbeat to return to a tolerable condition, then she lifted her head slowly…

And froze.

So much for a tolerable state of her heartbeat. What she saw made her doubt her sanity. Unable to even blink, she was staring into the large eyes of a giant monster. Her pulse was rising again though she didn't move a muscle. Large, glowing red eyes were piercing at her. Seconds passed with no other sound then dust still trickling to the ground. Then, her brain started working again.

She stood up carefully, slowly and dared to take a quick look over her shoulder. She has been doing well to hurry up climbing out of the fissure because it didn't exist any longer. She turned back, locking eyes with the giant who was still staring at her with a challenging expression. Her mind was still having trouble to administer what her eyes were seeing. His eyes however must have been the source of the light which had led her here, that much she was sure. If she hasn't have followed them, she might have been buried under tons of rocks by now. She shook her head quickly due to her absurd thoughts. It was more likely, that this monster's movements did induce the quakes in the first place!

She looked back again to where she has been coming from. The fissure was gone but now she could see a small vault exposed by the eruption earlier. She could find another way out. She did not have to pass by the giant. She looked at him again, the monster showing her the same courtesy. If it was able or willing to hurt her, he would have done that by now. As a matter of fact, it looked like the giant was trapped in this mine as much as she was. Maybe it would…

She was trembling at the mere thought but nevertheless braced herself and started hesitantly to approach the giant. His metallic face was reflecting the light of his own eyes. If it wasn't for these unbelievably lively eyes, she would have been tented to believe he was just a giant robot. Step by step, and with her heart beating so fast and hard that she was beginning to ask herself if he could hear it, she got closer and closer to the giant's face. He himself never lost sight of her, trying to assess her intentions.

She reached a ledge from where she could see and estimate the situation the monster was in. He was buried under tons and tons of rocks and rumble in what appeared to be the remaining of a once huge vault. She searched the vault for a way out, a tunnel, a fissure but couldn't find anything resembling a way to escape. Instead, she discovered a machine in a far corner of highly unusual making. It was huge and it was equipped with a great spike in the front. It certainly seemed to be a drill of some kind. She noticed the monster to follow her gaze to the machine. If she could get down there and managed to get it to work…

Yet again, she had to climb down a rock face and hated it already. None of her climbing attempts on this day had ended well and this particular rock face didn't look exactly stable. But, having no other option, she swung carefully over the ledge and began the decent, daring to turn her back on the giant for the time being. This time, she didn't have to wait long for the upcoming disaster. She was feeling almost, _almost_ more angry than afraid when she felt the rocks trembling, slowly at first but caving in the next second. She held back a scream. Knowing she was too far away from the ground this time to not be injured badly or worse, she held her breath and awaited the impact. Which came, but far earlier than anticipated and instead of rocks, she landed on a metallic surface.

The same moment she hit the metal, something strange happened. Something, that would be changing everything from now on. And not just for her…

She did feel the pain of the impact as well of course but it was distant, as if not important. Pictures emerged before her mind's eye and emotions were flooding into her in waves. Some things were easy to understand, clear in their appearance. A will, hard as iron. Convictions. Leadership. Power. Anger. Discipline. Hatred as well. Other things weren't that easy to understand, so her mind tried hard to translate them into something she could fathom. Her head hurt. Faces. Loyalty. A ship. A distant planet. Especially that planet made her shiver mentally for it was linked to a multitude of emotions such as anger, even rage, but also regret. But above all, she could feel something in her chest pulsing powerfully. A power which scared and comforted her at the same time. There were many, many other images and emotions coming in hard on her but she wasn't able to comprehend them in the slightest.

She breathed heavily, her heart almost jumped up her throat. She realized she was standing on the giant's servo, which he somehow has managed to free from the debris to keep her from falling. She locked eyes to optics with the cybertronian and whispered quietly:

" _Megatron"._

A dangerous groan made her wince and her face went pale. His optics were presenting a mixture of fury and disgust. She knew it took every discipline in his chassis not to crush her in his servo instantly. Instead, he lowered his servo to the ground, making it possible for her to jump of it safely. She knew what he wanted and didn't take any chances to make him more infuriated than he already was. She didn't even look back to these enraged red optics and ran to the drill. She climbed up the machine without any incidents this time, looking at the controlling mechanisms. She swallowed hard and started to bring the drill back to life, jumping from one spot to another in order to activate it, her instinct guiding her more than her brain. She was so confused.

The next hours passed as if being in trance. Her brain was busy processing the impressions she had been given while she was operating the drill as if she never has done anything else. But her mind was one thing, her body another. During the monotone drilling work the adrenalin rush due to the discovery of a certain cybertronian being ebbed away and left an exhausted, maltreated human. A young woman, whose head hurt, whose body hurt. Every single part of her haggard figure was aching. Her robes were merely shreds by now, her headscarf gone revealing long hazelnut hairs covered with dust due to the work with the drill.

As she widened the space between the mech and the rumble surrounding him, she could observe the growing impatience on Megatron's faceplate, as well as the disgust toward her. She was sure, if he has been able to, he would have blown up the whole mine sky high. Regardless, her body started to fail her eventually. She noticed she fell from the drill, crushing hard to the ground. Her ribs made a quite crackling noise but the pain was just a small addition to what she was already suffering. She saw the drill continuing the work on its own, breaking through the rocks into a huge tunnel only second after she has fallen off it. The vault started trembling again, another quake was about to come. The shaking only increased when she saw Megatron moving, trying to free himself from the remaining rumble. Then, his imposing stature lifted from the dust, easily pulling up the ceiling as if it was a lightweight all of a sudden.

She didn't have the strength to move away from the falling rocks, each one now having the seize to smash her like an insect. Her ears became numb, only a ringing remained, and her view blurred until it became dark all over again. Still, she was awake, feeling herself being picked up and moved. It went up and down, up and down steadily for a few minutes. She heard someone talking so someone. A whining voice but couldn't understand the words. Another set of minutes passed while she couldn't do anything else than to just lay still and feel herself being moved. She was so tired.

Suddenly, she felt being set down to the ground roughly along with being blinded by a sinking sun. Well, the sun was almost gone but after the obscurity of the cave, even this little light was dazzling. She forced herself to open her eyes nevertheless. Two things burnt in her mind before she passed out eventually.

First, the huge form of Megatron and another mech transforming into their flight mode without looking back and speeding away into the sky.

Second, the painful and frightening feeling of being left behind, of being abandoned.


	2. Change of spark

Human faces revived in his helm again and again! A male. A female. A youngling. And _her_ of course.

Phases in her life before the nightmare began. He saw bits and pieces of her youth, her family, laughter, embarrassment, fears, hopes, dreams… all gone, when she got caught by those abominable humans. He saw torture, he saw helplessness, he saw agony, all of it making him feel more and more disgusted. He saw a defenseless, pathetic small being, wondering how she has survived such a long time. 'A long time' in human terms, of course. He also saw another youngling, but for some reason there weren't many memories of it. But above all, he saw a great deal of pain, physical and mental pain.

Megatron growled as he couldn't even concentrate on his research. Those pictures made him more furious the more he realized he couldn't stop them from flaring up over and over again. And there was that feeling as well! As if he had forgotten about something very important, his mind almost scolding at him. Regardless of the unwelcome distraction, the warlord tried to continue his research in the Nemesis database. There have only been a few entries on that specific topic which was not surprising. After all, there haven't been many cases…

Megatron scowled at the monitor. Those entries didn't help at all! There was no way that what he suspected could have happened! Not with Cybertron being dead for eons now. Not without Primus to decide and NOT without him wishing for something like that or even thinking about it! He clenched his servos tight, enraged.

The door to the science lab opened but before someone could have piped up, Megatron grabbed some of the tools laying around in the lab next to him and threw it blindly at the entering mech, losing his temper. Soundwave dodged at the last second, silently surprised and impressed at his leader's anger.

"Soundwave! What is it?" Megatron snarled not even mentioning his outburst.

Soundwave stepped closer to show a life signal appearing and disappearing erratically on his visor. When Megatron paid closer attention to it, he was taken aback, realizing it was his own life signal. That must have been, why Soundwave didn't know what to do with it, coming to his master to ask what was going on in his very own silent way. The warlord's optics narrowed menacingly.

"Your systems must be malfunctioning!", he growled, "Delete the signal! It shouldn't reappear again as you are perfectly aware that I am here and nowhere near those coordinates! After that, you are to report to the med bay and make Knockout fix the problem!"

Soundwave nodded and deleted the signal, making it disappear from his visor. He turned away to make his exit, a tad surprised he was not to investigate on the matter. But he never questioned the decisions of his lord and already focused on another task when the signal popped up again with a beep before the mech was out of the lab, making Megatron roar.

There was a similar situation inside the Autobots base. Ratchet already has called for Optimus and the others to show them the irritating signal.

Bulkhead was the first to pipe up. "Could be a trick. A lure to make us investigate and run into a Decepticon trap!"

Bumblebee agreed, beeping that there was no convincing reason the leader of the Decepticons would wander around through a desert on his own.

"Aren't those the exact same coordinates of the abandoned energon mine we have been investigating before we ran into Megatron and Starscream?", Arcee asked ", If I remember correctly, Starscream was left in a somewhat difficult position and Megatron was buried under tons of rocks."

Optimus hummed lightly. "Megatron has survived far worse than to be defeated by a mere cave in. I wouldn't be surprised, if he managed to get out of the mine."

"Maybe he is wounded though", Ratchet added, "It seems he is not able to fly back to the Nemesis. In fact, his movements are very slow if he is moving at all."

Bumblebee whirled, saying that this could be their chance to catch the warlord off guard and if he was indeed alone and weak, they could finally finish him.

Optimus took a few seconds to think about it. "Detecting his life signal doesn't necessarily mean, Megatron is actually there. But it does look like we can afford to investigate though with utmost care. There could be other Decepticons on site that we may not be able to uncover yet."

The prime looked over to Ratchet, the medic already nodding and tipping in the coordinates of the signal to activate the ground bridge.

"Autobots. If we indeed find Megatron on his own and at our mercy", the prime looked at each one of them firmly, "we are not to take any chances. We will have to act quickly and precisely in order to terminate him before backup appears."

He saw them all nodding seriously and transforming into their vehicle mode.

"Roll out".

She would have cried if there was even a bit water left inside her body to produce tears. They found her! After all she has been through, after she made a discovery beyond believe, meeting an alien life form, seeing parts of what she was convinced to be memories, after being carried out of the mine by Megatron, after all what has been before, they found her!  
Being far too weak, she couldn't run anymore. She was just staggering ahead, knowing if she stopped or stumbled, she wouldn't be able to get up again. She felt more helpless and afraid than ever in her life before. The strange feeling of being abandoned hasn't faded away as well, it has rather increased since Megatron left her. It felt wrong and yet she couldn't fathom where this feeling was coming from. She just knew it was wrong! She wasn't supposed to be on her own! She whimpered silently out of exhaustion, thinking about her family again to gather what was left of her strength.

Her pursuers were close, she could hear that. She could hear them shouting at her in the distance, shooting at her though it must still be too far away to aim properly for she didn't get hit. But that was just a matter of time. Soon, it would be over.

It was then, when she has been forced to stop despite the fear for her tormentors to catch up with her. She widened her eyes lightly, too weak to be more then mildly shocked by the huge appearance of green light, whirling like a black hole and blinding her. She wasn't afraid of it although she didn't know what she was dealing with exactly. It was more like a feeling, a newly awakened instinct.

A bullet hit the ground right next to her feet which would have made her jump if she could. She limbed forward to hide behind a rock formation while she noticed a figure taking shape inside the spiraling green light. What her feet haven't been able to do, her heart did. It jumped in surprise, in anger and in great relief, all at once when she saw Megatron coming out of the swirl. Her mind didn't even bother to think how this was possible. Nothing made sense since she found out about his existence. She didn't hesitate as she stepped forward to catch his attention.

The portal of green light was gone as suddenly as it has appeared. The warlord took a few seconds to look around but scowled, when bullets started to hit his chassis, annoying him at the most. He narrowed his optics as he tried to figure out where the _attackers_ were hidden. Doing so, he found what he was looking for in the first place, growling at the small human standing in front of him just a stone's throw away. A cybertronian stone's throw away.

He could see her eyes filled with hope but he couldn't react with a proper angry or disgusted gaze when he noticed the bullets were barely missing her frame. So, he came just in time, he scoffed, coming closer, raising his arm and aiming at the rocks behind the woman where those pathetic humans surely hid themselves. He would get rid of them with a single blast. But before he could eradicate them, a flash of blue blaster fire hit the Decepticon's arm, stopping his assault.

"Megatron", Optimus hollered, "we cannot allow you to harm these humans. Stand down!" The rest of his team in tow, the prime was targeting the warlord again.

"Those parasites don't really deserve the term, even you would admit that if you knew what I do." The warlord was deeply annoyed by the Autobot's appearance but he was not surprised. The possibility for them to get a hold of that specific human was the reason he was honoring the place with his presence. He took a quick glance at the woman, seeing if she was still covered and addressing her suddenly with a piercing glare. "Don't you dare move from that spot." It was the first time she heard his voice. A shiver ran down her spine.

"He has a hostage!" Arcee shouted to the rest, "be careful not to harm the girl accidently. We have to get her out of there!"

The 'girl' in question winced. Hostage? Who are they? What was going on?! The incoming bullets fired by the humans were forgotten when she observed Megatron engaging the other cybertronians on his own. Being vastly outnumbered didn't seem to concern him. He transformed and sped off, flying high and started an assault from the sky.

"So much for not being able to transform", Bulkhead hissed, targeting the warlord with his blasters, "what are we supposed to do now?"

Optimus fired at Megatron along with the others, moving fast to avoid being hit himself. "While Megatron remains airborne, we have no possibility to get close to him, yet alone to terminate him. However, we have to ensure that humans safety! Arcee, get to her while we will draw his fire to cover you. When you got a hold of her, Ratchet shall open a ground bridge back to base for there is nothing else Megatron seems to be after beside that woman."

Arcee didn't bother to answer as she transformed and rushed to her target but didn't make it far as she was hit by Megatron's blaster fire. The impact dashed the femme against a rock, where she felt unconscious.

"Arcee!" Optimus only took a second to assess the damage that has been made to the small blue femme. "Bulkhead. Take Arcee back to base. Bumblebee, you are with me."

Bulkhead retreated without stopping to fire at the flying Con until he could grab his comrade and then waited for the bridge to open. Megatron landed just between the human and the remaining Autobots, glaring at them.

"I am actually not in the mood nor do I have time to play around with you, Optimus. Not today. So…" He loaded his canon and aimed at the far rocks again from where the humans were still shooting at all of them. "If you get any closer I will blow that pest sky high and you can clean up the mess."

Optimus stopped and gestured to Bumblebee to do the same, both of them staring the warlord down. Megatron sneered as he backed away, not leaving them out of his sight. When he got close to the trembling human he activated his COMM. "Soundwave, open the ground bridge."

The portal opened right behind the Decepticon leader and right next to the human. He glanced down at her and gestured to the swirl. "Get in there." When the woman didn't react right away, he hollered. "NOW!"

She winced but started to move, dragging herself to the ground bridge. She tried to move faster, she truly did but she couldn't.

Suddenly, her eyes widened, as a single shot hit her in the back.

Time slowed down. She stopped midway, blinked and looked up as Megatron roared furiously and fired at the rocks. She could hear a couple of her own breaths loudly in her ears. She blinked again. Megatron fired at the both mechs who were trying to reach him before he could get away. She blinked again, surprisingly calm. Then, her vision blurred. She felt the world around her spinning and then, there was darkness.

Knockout almost suffered a spark attack, along with Starscream to whom the doctor was still tending after their lord and master almost beat him to the pit, when said lord and master barged in the med bay. The both of them flinched when they saw the rage in Megatron's optics, thinking either one of them must have done something terribly wrong to infuriate the warlord all of the sudden.

"M…Master! I am sure there is a good explanation…", Starscream started to brabble but he got cut off by his leader immediately. Megatron reached a med berth and opened his fist to reveal a small frame in it. A human! A human in a terrible condition.

"Hmmm", Starscream hummed lightly, "Well, this creature did have indeed a terrible day." He chuckled amused but almost choked, when he saw the dark look piercing at him.

"My lord," Knockout interfered to prevent the seeker from being beaten senseless. Again. "what are we supposed to do with it?"

"I will tell you, what you are supposed to do with it", the warlord said in a dangerously calm voice as he let the human slide down to the med berth almost carefully. Knockdown and Starscream exchanged looks at a loss for words. "You are to fix her. And let me make myself clear: If she dies …" both mechs shrunk as Megatron clenched his servo, afraid for their lives as they should have been, "you will share her condition."

After this assuring speech, he turned away and left the med bay, leaving back two dumbfounded Decepticons behind.

"What just happened?", Starscream asked.

It took a few seconds for Knockout to answer: "I think our all mighty leader has lost his mind! I mean… a human? What is he supposed to do with it?"

"Maybe it knows something", Starscream tried to explain, "It has to be of some value! Otherwise…"

A rattling noise brought their attention back on their 'patient'.

"Well, I will leave you to do your handiwork, doctor," Starscream was about to leave the room, "I know it is in good hands."

"You will go nowhere!" Knockout hissed angrily, "as I recall correctly, lord Megatron told us BOTH to fix it! So, move your aft back here and help me figure out how to repair this tiny thing!"

"How should I know! I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! You are the medic!"

The medic at hand started to panic, as the human's intakes began to get erratic. "Scream!"

"Alright!", the seeker tried not to freak out, starting to pace back and forth, "Well, if it was one of us, you would scan it first to uncover what is wrong, that much I know, so: scan it!"

Knockout grabbed a tool from the lab table immediately and initiated the scan, not even thinking about how ridiculous that might look like but shortly afterwards, the device almost felt out of his servo.

"What is wrong?", Starscream hissed.

"It… I… I'm getting readings…."

"Excellent! What do they say?" The seeker frowned when the medic didn't respond. "Doctor?" He froze, then shrieked. "Is it dead already?!"

"No, but it's spark is already flickering…" Knockout showed the readings to the seeker, who slowly started to realize what the medic just said and what he saw on the medical device.

"Did you say…. spark? As in the human equivalent to a spark?"

"I said spark and I meant it." Knockout's confusion only grew when he double checked the readings on the labs monitor. "but it makes no sense. Look! Those readings are similar to those of our master! What did he do to the human?"

The human was shivering and started to having trouble intaking, making the present mechs whimper.

"I am a doctor to cybertronians!" Knockout shrieked in panic, "not to some human pets! What are we going to do! I do not know anything about human biology and last time I checked I NEVER was blamed for that lack of knowledge!"

The silver mech was thinking hard. "If you do not know anything about human biology, what do you know about a flickering spark? Doctor! Why would a spark flicker?"

The doctor tried to focus, shoving his panic aside as best as he could: "Well, there are two possible explanations. One is, the chassis has endured extensive damage. Too extensive to be able to host its spark any longer. Second, its flickering due to an extreme loss of energon which is mostly associated with extensive damage to the chassis. If it is the first, we are doomed. I cannot fix a human's chassis even if my life depends on it. This is so unf…"

Starscream cut the doctor off to stop him from pitying himself. "And if it is the second case?"

"Well, I would attach an energon drip and refuel the patient but that is not an option either! Energon and the human nerve system…"

"do not get along with each other." Starscream remembered how the interrogation of agent Fowler had failed due to that incompatibility. "But, for the love of Primus, this human has a spark! You said it yourself: you get clear readings!"

The human trembled and winced once more, intaking heavily…. Then stopped moving at all. The lab's monitor uttered an alarming sound. From that moment everything happened very quickly.

"Give me an energon drip, NOW!", Knockout shouted at the silver mech, forgetting about the seeker's higher rank, "hurry the frag up!"

Starscream almost stumbled over his own peds as he grabbed for the energon drip closest to the med berth, while Knockout prepared an energon sample. The both of them froze midway, looking at each other when they realized their mistake.

"It's all too big!" Starscream squealed. "Frag it all! How are we supposed to inject energon to this miniature without tearing it apart!"

The alarming sound still emanated from the monitor as Knockout started to look around frantically, wishing for Breakdown to be there. His assistant surly would have had an idea or at least he could calm him down. The doctor glared at the energon sample, then around in the med bay, them back at the sample… and he got an inspiration.

"Well, desperate times…", Knockout reached for the sample and opened it quickly, making the seeker beside him frown in confusion. The doctor held the energon containing cube with one servo, trying to pick up the human with the other but failed to get a hold of the tiny creature in his panic.

"For Primus sake, you call yourself a doctor?!" the seeker pushed Knockout aside, closing his claws around the human and lifting it up this way, "If I come to think about how often those unsteady servos of yours were tinkering around on my chassis! Now what?"

The red mech gestured to the cube, holding it directly below the human. "Let it slide into the energon." The doctor's serious look met Starscream's horrified expression. "Do it!" And so, the seeker did, mentally already preparing to make his will.

The human fell into the energon filled cube. It was a nice, fresh sample of energon, almost transparent so they could watch their lab rat sink to the cube's bottom where it remained motionless. Knockout grabbed the spark reading device from before, pointed it at the fluid and waited.

Nothing.

The monitor still beeped constantly, alarming the mech of the medical emergency. Seconds passed, making the 'doctors' worried out of their mind. On closer inspection, they could see the energon enter the humans body through its mouth passively but it didn't seem to work the way the red mech was hoping for. Finally, the beep stopped, being replaced by a single, monotone tone and the screen turned red.

After some time of silence, Starscream piped up, his voice an octave higher than usually: "Lord Megatron isn't going to actually kill us over some human, is he?"

They exchanged glances, recalling their masters rage vividly and groaned simultaneously: "Scrap."

The sound emanating from the monitor changed suddenly. Within the glimpse of an eye, a single spark beat could be heard, making the seeker and the red mech jump in surprise. They waited long, too long, for the second beat, and noticed the cube started to crack so they put It down on the med berth and waited again. The third beat was the strongest. It made the vessel break eventually and spilling energon all over the berth while the monitor showed the spark readings went skyrocketing.

The human laid on her front side and started to cough violently, spitting the excessive energon out of her system. The Cons watched in astonishment as the readings on the screen slowly settled, showing a natural resting pulse.

This time Knockout succeeded to pick up the human and laid her down on his servo. Her frame was shaking, her body surly was still in shock. When she stopped coughing, she collapsed onto the metal and rolled on her back. Starscream drew closer but flinched violently and the doctor almost dropped his patient as the human took in a sudden deep intake, opening its bright blue optics.

 **Curious? Like it? No? Please tell me!**


	3. Wrath

There was a mix of darkness and light and she felt herself floating between dream and reality. She remembered being shot, along with the pain. And the fear. And the cold. Then again, darkness. She remembered her life passing by which she has heard so often happens to those who die. She remembered the way her life had been until she has been abducted, the day she has been ripped away from her family. It has been one of the most terrifying days in her whole life, only surpassed by the ordeal that has followed. She recalled the day she took her chance and escaped and how she found _him_ …

 _"_ _I am no expert but… isn't it supposed to breathe? Are you really sure it is still alive?"_

Alive? Yes, she felt quite alive but how was that possible? She tried to take a deep breath and succeeded but it felt strange, awkward, almost unnecessary. Maybe she wasn't alive after all. How confusing…

Someone huffed impatiently _. "Starscream, I am monitoring its spark rate all the time. I will be notified if there was something wrong with it. Right now, it just seems to be recharging. Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do... Those readings simply do not make any sense."_

The voices were getting louder and clearer and with that, the darkness ebbed away. Slowly, she opened her eyes. She didn't move right away for she expected pain rushing through her body after all she has been trough but blinked in surprise when she felt nothing of the sort. She gently and as quiet as possible pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked down on her hands in astonishment. They were dirty alright, but there were no scratches, no bruises nor anything resembling an injury, no signs of maltreatment, no trace of ever being beaten, they weren't even burnt from the sun! She turned and froze, eyes open wide, when she saw her reflection onto a large piece of metal close to her. Her eyes! What happened to her eyes? What happened at all?!

"The readings are still displaying Megatron's spark."

She turned violently when she heard the familiar name and spotted two mechs but only saw their backs. They were standing in front of an enormous monitor which was showing very confusing data and a picture of Megatron's face. Along with that, she heard a soft and steady sound that reminded her of a healthy heartbeat.

"Regardless of your confusion doctor, you obviously seem to have a theory, do you not?" The silver mech stated with curiosity. She stood up, registering the rest of her body wasn't hurting as well. She truly has forgotten what it felt like to move without pain, the lightness of every step. Avoiding something that seemed to be large broken bits of glass, she went to the edge of the table she was standing on, looking down and flinching at the height.

"Hmm. I admit, there is something on my mind, but it couldn't possibly be the explanation to all of this. Not with Cybertron being nothing more than a scrap heap. And that's not even the most important part of it."

She watched the red mech thinking hard about something which clearly was making his head hurt. She watched the silver mech as well, as the both of them were staring silently at the screen before them, not noticing their lab rat has woken up.

"I would never risk my finish saying that in front of our master for he already seems to be in a very bad mood. However, If I didn't know better I would say that tiny thing is our Lord's…"

The doors opened and no other than Megatron entered the med bay, effectively silencing the mechs by nothing else than his presence. The warlord spotted the human immediately, scowling darkly when he saw how the expression on her face changed as she locked optics with him. Her gaze was expectantly, hopeful, even excited. She was in a much better condition than when he has left her in the care of his second and medic.

"My Lord", the seeker piped up, purring, "We managed to fix the human as you ordered. It is…" The silver mech followed his master's gaze and frowned, surprised to see the creature standing on the edge of the med berth, "well, it is online!"

Knockout turned to the human as well, still unsettled by those bright, blue optics. There was no doubt, no way anything other than energon could be the source of that very specific color. The doctor shuddered. Creepy little monster!

"So, you actually managed to stabilize her", the warlord sounded as if he was anything but pleased, "how fortunate for you".

Knockout and Starscream looked at each other, not knowing whether they truly did right or wrong by saving her. Megatron approached the med berth, intimidating the human by staring her down. It satisfied him to see her wince.

"She still looks like a mess, though!", he growled, "I don't want her running around my ship like that. Knockout, you will make something of her."

All the doctor could do was to nod dumbfounded, speechless for the first time. She will be running around the ship? They were taking care of a human? Was that a joke? Well, his master never has been known for his sense of humor. Maybe his theory was sound after all.

"Starscream, I will have Soundwave inform the troops that she is not to be harmed. Nevertheless, you will assure her safety. If something happens to her, I will personally hold you responsible. Have I made myself clear? "

Starscream's wings drooped in shock and outrage. "Master! I… I mean… It…. What!? Are you truly asking me to…"

"NO, Starscream", Megatron scowled at his second, interrupting the pitiful brabble, then rumbled, "I am ordering you."

The seeker wined softly before he clenched his dentals, trying not to spill out the words as he bowed lightly. "As you wish, my liege."

She listened very carefully to the conversation, absorbing not only the words but observing the way the other mechs were addressing Megatron, their submissive tone as well and their reactions to his orders. When the warlord was about to just turn away and leave the med bay, she shook her head in puzzlement, reaching out for him. "Wait! Please!", she gasped, "What will happen to me? What _did_ happen to me? Megatron!"

She realized her mistake to late. The warlord turned back to her with such hostility and wrath in his gaze that it made her jump back immediately along with Knockout and Starscream.

"Don't you DARE addressing me in this tone EVER AGAIN!", he hollered at her right before the doors closed behind him, leaving two battle-hardened Decepticons and a human scared for their life. After a few seconds, the seeker was the first one able to speak.

"As the chosen one to keep you safe", Starscream said sarcastically, "for Primus sake and for the sake of my life, don't you ever do that again!"

oooooooooooooooooooo

Days later, she still didn't know why Megatron has reacted this enraged or why he was allowing her to live at all and to wander around the ship when it was highly obvious, that he hated her.

His reaction made a shudder running down her spine even now while she was sneaking through the corridors of the Nemesis for the first time. She has been resting a lot the last couple of days and was even able to wash all the dirt and dried blood off her after an unhappy Knockout organized a _small_ container of water which, to her, has been a small swimming pool. But what truly blew her socks off has been the set of new clothes Knockout somehow managed to get a hold of, refusing to reveal anything on their whereabouts, no matter how often she has asked him. Not that he or anyone else ever bothered to answer her questions or talking to her at all.

However, truth to be told, she hasn't felt that good in a very long time. Her body didn't hurt anymore. She didn't have to work to exhaustion, she didn't have to run, she didn't have to hide, she didn't have to fear more than the derogatory attitude on the part of the Decepticons, mostly from Starscream. He was showing and telling her on each possible occasion how pathetic, unimportant and weak she was but she could live with that. Compared to what she was used to, it was a vacation.

The only thing she had to care about right now was getting used to some… physical changes. Her eyes, glowing brightly with a soothing blue light, were just the visible signs of those changes. She looked down to the small bottle on her belt which was filled with energon to her disposal. Since she has ended up on the Nemesis, drinking that was the strangest thing she has done so far but her body was longing for nothing else than that. She would get used to it, especially because she didn't need much of it to feel utterly content.

Because neither Knockout nor Starscream have bothered to talk to her in the med bay, she has decided she would just sneak passed them and take a walk. After all, it seemed that she was to stay aboard this ship so she could as well make herself familiar with it if no one else bothered to do so. So far, she has discovered it was… huge! As was everything, beginning with the tools the mechs use to perform their tasks and ending with the mechs themselves. The ship must truly be darkening the sun when flying in a proper angle. Crossing the corridors, she truly felt like the small, weak insect Starscream was addressing her as.

She has not noticed the silent mech behind her until he passed her by, making her jump in surprise. He didn't look like one of the vehicons she has seen before and the way he was moving was quite different from the others as well. He stopped in front of a console and started to work on it.

 _'_ _So, this is the human that concerns Lord Megatron...'_

She blinked in surprise, not just because the voice emanating from the mech was as well different from everything she has heard so far but because he was talking about her. Well, who else could 'the human' be?

' _Starscream is going to pay for letting her out of his sights'_ the mech mused, not even looking at her. He turned from the console and directed himself to the lifts, intending to reach the bridge. There has been a fluctuation in one of the ground bridge's subroutines earlier he had to tend to.

She ran after him as fast as she could, overly curious and jumped inside the lift right before the door closed, not realizing the distance she has managed.

 _'_ _Fascinating. So, it seems to be true.'_

She stared up at him in astonishment, not able to look away until the door opened again. The mech left the lift along with the human but did not care about the fact that she was following him. After all, she wasn't his responsibility.

The mech reached his working station and started to recalibrate the ground bridge controls. The human stood beside him for a while, not being noticed by anyone on the bridge yet. He as well didn't pay attention to her any longer for the malfunction in the ground bridge's systems was trickier than anticipated. That's why he didn't notice her starting to climb up his working station, reaching the edge of the console where his digits were tipping eagerly to solve the problem before him. After she got there, she frowned, dividing her attention between the screen and the mech. The speed in which the mech was handling the task was unbelievable. There was so much data, so many equations popping up, so many links, there was no way the mech could handle them unless…

"That's amazing", she whispered after a while, "you are linked to the computer system itself!"

 _'_ _I am indeed linked to the cybersystem of the ship'._

The longer she stared at the screen the more she felt the fascination. She tried to understand what the mech was doing, amusing him by that. She still tried to make sense of all the given information when she stumbled over something familiar.

"That vortex again," she murmured, "it looks like some kind of wormhole."

There was a brief pause when the mech beside her did a quick research about the word, not interrupting his main task though and thus giving the meaning of multitasking a whole new dimension.

 _'_ _The theory of the ground bridge being a wormhole is partly correct. It links two distant locations like a wormhole does. However, a wormhole's appearance is erratic while a ground bridge can be opened at will to whatever location is desired.'_

Neither the mech nor the human became aware of Megatron when he entered the bridge, Knockout in tow.

"Yes, my lord", Knockout seemed somehow nervous while explaining things, "After I doublechecked the readings from your examination earlier, there is no doubt about the whereabout of that spark. It is a part of yours." The doctor looked worried as if expecting to be beaten up for his analysis.

"It requires the exact coordinates to open a ground bridge, does it not?"

The warlord scowled at his medic but didn't say anything right away. He was very much aware of the rumors that were spreading amongst the Decepticon ranks like wildfire although it has been only a few days since he brought the human to the ship. Some have seen her already in the med bay, asking themselves if the rumors and the whispers were true.

 _'_ _Affirmative. Exact coordinates are required on both ends of the ground bridge.'_

How was he supposed to handle this situation? As much as he would love to, he couldn't just crush her for he didn't know how it would affect him. He was dealing with a part of his own spark after all!

"So, knowing the coordinates, I can open a ground bridge to whatever location I want…"

The warlord turned around violently when he finally noticed the familiar voice, spotting her on one of the ground bridge controls beside his surveillance communications officer. Knockout followed his masters gaze. He sighed and started to think about how he would have to treat the commander in his med bay again. The second in command should get a season ticket.

 _'_ _There are limitations to its use.'_

The purple mech displayed a few scenarios which would either render the ground bridge useless or ending the life of whomever was to pass through it. She was silent for a moment, while Megatron approached the console with a dark expression. She hasn't noticed him yet.

"I understand… so, in order to avoid stupid accidents, I truly need to locate the place I would

want to travel to first."

Megatron stopped, clearly puzzled. He took a closer look at the women and noticed her optics have changed somehow. Not only were her pupils glowing brightly blue but the whole of her optics.

"You could do it easily…"

"May I ask who you are talking to?"

He has expected the women to wince in surprise or to be startled at least, but she simply turned her gaze to him, as if he has been standing there the whole time. She frowned and looked around, confused.

"Well, to Soundwave of course. There isn't anyone else nearby, right?"  
Her eyes turned back to the usual form immediately, when said communications officer flinched violently, turning his visor straight at her in surprise. She almost fell from the console but managed to avoid slipping over the edge.

"Now what?!", she gasped.

Soundwave turned his visor from the human to his master and back at her again. The warlord was taken aback. It took much to surprise his communications officer. And surprised he was. The warlord knew him best of all to see how disturbed the mech was.

"How is it possible that you can hear him?", the warlord growled at the woman.

"Hear him? I… do not understand. He was talking to me."

"Maybe I can explain."

Knockout joined his leader with a knowing expression, almost grinning smugly. He has seen the optics of the human as well as his master and concluded the only possible explanation. "It would seem our dear Soundwave isn't the only one being able to link himself to a cybersystem. Not anymore. What we just witnessed…I think, she was kinda online along with him. That's why she could hear his thoughts I assume and answered to them aloud. However, given Soundwave reaction, he wasn't aware of her."

"Just a handful of cybertronians ever had that ability", Megatron snarled, looking from Knockout to the human as if she was personally responsible for a great mistake. But for the first time, there wasn't just disgust and anger in his gaze but a small amount of curiosity as well. It made her relax a little. She looked back at Soundwave when a sudden thought struck her.

"I am sorry if I invaded your personal space", her tone was genuinely apologizing, "In my defense: I had no idea! I didn't even realize I was somehow connected to… well, I don't know, until your sudden wince."

Soundwave didn't answer in any way but only continued to stare her down, if you can even call it that. She was starting to get very uncomfortable when a sound emanated from another console and one of the vehicons piped up.

"My lord, I am detecting an energon signature from deep space. It seems to be a small vessel. It isn't answering my hails but I am quite sure it is of Decepticon origin."

"Is it moving?"

"Yes, my liege. It is heading for earth. Estimated time to arrival: four days."  
Megatron gave it a thought.

"If it is indeed one of us, I will not risk it to crush on earth's surface and being found by the Autobots. Set an intercept course. I want to rendezvous with the vessel in less than two days, far away from the Autobots reach."

The vehicon did what he has been ordered while Megatron turned his gaze back to the human, who has been listening to the conversation carefully but right now he didn't have the patience to deal with her.

"Soundwave, observe the vessel and gather as much information about it as possible while we are approaching its position. Knockout, take the human back to the med bay for further recharge. Oh, and if you stumble over my second by chance," the warlord sneered, "please tell him that I would like to have a little chit-chat with him."  
Before Knockout could grab the human with his servo, which she didn't appreciate at all, she dodged out of his reach. She didn't want to make the doctor or anyone else angry or to defy the orders given to her but she did want to take advantage of the situation. She couldn't just let the opportunity slip. She chose her words and her tone carefully, then piped up humbly: "Lord Megatron, "she began, surprising all present mechs on the bridge though most of them were pretending not to listen at all, "may I ask a favor?"

oooooooooooooooooooo

She woke up with a shriek, amusing the silver seeker who has been trying to wake her from recharge as gentle as possible. Meaning: he has slammed one of his servos down on the table next to where she has been sleeping curled up, trapped in a terrible nightmare. It has been that day again. The day after everything had changed! She stared up to Starscream while her pants only faded away slowly. He was grinning nastily.

"Did you have a bad dream?", he acted as if concerned, then scoffed, "How pathetic."

After the 'chit-chat' with Megatron, the silver mech has spent an hour under medical treatment and since then rarely has left her out of his sights but his behavior toward her was beyond pejorative.

"What happened?" she only managed to ask.

"Lord Megatron has summoned you to the bridge."

"What for?"

Starscream didn't bother to answer. Instead, he grabbed her tiny frame before she could hide somewhere where he couldn't reach her which was a game they have played several times by now. She really didn't like being dragged around like that, she would rather run beside the mechs! The seeker intended to leave the med bay when he almost bumped into Knockout, who was carrying a device that reminded her of a microscope.

"What do you need that for?", she asked curiously from between two of the seeker's digits.

Knockout cared to explain as much as the seeker did: nothing. He only smirked when he saw her peeking out of the seeker's lightly clenched claws, looking like a prisoner behind bars.

"I see you two have already become friends?", the doctor mocked the commander who scowled and left the med bay with a growl eventually.

She let out a gentle snort but didn't resist. Instead, she was getting nervous. Megatron hasn't responded to her request but she was pretty sure he did asked Soundwave to do the research, nonetheless. She would have asked the silent mech personally, but after what has become of their first conversation, she has not dared. Did he find them?

Her heart… well, her spark started to skip beats when she thought about seeing her family. They sure have changed a lot. Will they recognize her? How was she supposed to explain what has happened to her during the past five years and after her escape? Could she just show up? She didn't want to scare them off right away! After all, they might be believing her dead for quite some time now. Would she recognize _her_ …

Starscream entered the bridge where Soundwave was waiting for her but there was no sign of Megatron. She sighed disappointed but trembled when she felt someone's presence inside her mind all of the sudden.

"Soundwave!"

The seeker frowned at the human's reaction and looked over to the communications officer, bewildered. So, he truly was talking to her! He never talked to any of them but to a fraggin human he does! Wasn't that betraying the vow of silence? That aft! He put the human down on Soundwave's console harshly. "She is your concern during the next hour!" The purple mech didn't react to Starscream which made the seeker even more furious.

 _'_ _The research has been successful. Lord Megatron is allowing you to open a ground bridge.'_

The instinctive attempt to resist the mech's presence which simply has been forced upon her died immediately. Her eyes opened wide.

 _'_ _However, you will be accompanied by Laserbeak, my symbiont. He is small enough to not be spotted by humans right away but will ensure your safety and your return to the ship if necessary.'_

She looked down on his chest, already seeing the shape of the minicon in her mind. She trembled.

"U…Understood."

Soundwave didn't need to use the console to open the ground bridge right in the middle of the bridge. ' _It is the middle of the night where you are heading and it is cold due to human terms, so there shouldn't be other humans around. If there are any, you are to avoid being seen.'_

She nodded but wasn't paying close attention to the instructions for she was beginning to tremble violently and failed to hide it. Everything went so fast all of the sudden!

Soundwave noticed her nervousness but didn't care to think of its cause. He reached out a servo for her, allowing her to climb onto it and put her down to the ground far gentler than the seeker did before. She clenched her fists, feeling fear and excitement at the same time. Now! After all that time. Finally!

She approached the bright green swirl slowly but each step made her walk faster and faster until the walk became a sprint. Only when she was almost through the vortex, she stopped and turned to Soundwave again.

"Thank you", she whispered with a sincere and deep gratitude before she passed the swirl. Laserbeak pooped out of Soundwave's chest and followed suit. When they were both gone, the bridge closed behind the human and the minicon. Soundwave stared at the spot where they have disappeared with an unreadable expression.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Team Prime was taken aback in disgust.

All of them just finished listening to Agent Fowler as he briefed them on the humans who has been annihilated by Megatron canon blast. They were human traffickers of the worst sort, enriching themselves by depriving others of their freedom and dignity, using and selling them as if they were just objects made only to give them pleasure and wealth. Fowler would have said much more but Prime stopped him by raising servo, making clear they have heard enough.

Bumblebee whirled angrily, saying he couldn't believe that humans are capable of doing something like that to each other, to someone of their own kind and that what happened might be for the best. The statement and the supportive nods amongst his team made the Prime frown sternly.

"Regardless of the loathsome crimes those humans might have committed, we shall not forget that they were killed by Megatron. We swore to defend human kind against the Decepticons. We are not to judge them especially because our own history. As you all might remember, there was a time back on Cybertron when one Cybertronian turned against another which was the beginning of our home world's downfall."

Optimus looked at each one of his comrades firmly, as they all looked to the ground, ashamed, then added with a softer expression: "We have to try harder to prevent further casualties but what already happened cannot be changed." He turned back to the Agent Fowler. "Did you find out anything about the women Megatron has taken hostage?"

"Prime", Fowler huffed with a somewhat defensive tone, "you didn't give **me** any information about said women, not even a picture! The description you provided me with is hardly enough to do any research. I am sorry but rather than guessing she was either a victim or a part of the human traffickers I cannot tell you anything."

"It doesn't matter", Arcee piped up, "either way, Megatron now has a human hostage but didn't make any demands yet. What's with this new strategy? The Decepticons may not be as cautious as we are when it comes to keep a low profile on earth, but they certainly didn't show up in the presence of humans for fun."

"I agree, "Ratchet hummed, "she has to be of some value to the Decepticon cause. It would be best if we could get her out of their hold but right now, we do not possess the means to do so. The Nemesis is cloaked as usually and Megatron's doubled, distorted signal disappeared as well from the radar after he passed the ground bridge with the human."

Optimus offlined his optics for a moment, then frowned. "We are on a holding pattern until an opportunity arises. Nevertheless, freeing the human will become one of our top priorities for whatever she knows or whatever advantage she could provide the Decepticons with, Megatron is certainly going to use it for his dark intentions, whatever those might be."

oooooooooooooooooooo

She couldn't move. Her eyes were wide in shock and confusion. This had to be a mistake, the wrong coordinates, a misunderstanding in names. Maybe the ground bridge wasn't functioning the way it should or maybe Megatron just intended to plaque her for daring to ask a favor of him.

A graveyard.

Though she didn't need to breathe, she felt like a large weight on her chest was choking her. The cold and the snow and the wind weren't affecting her but the surroundings were reflecting her inner feelings. She trembled in trepidation, not being able to express anything more than disbelief on her face.

She let her bright blue eyes wander around the well-groomed rows of graves. She knew the place. She has been here a few times, together with her family. Without thinking or feeling, she numbly started to move, her feet finding the path on their own. Without a winter coat, with her eyes glowing and her slow movements, she would have looked like a ghost to any other human. But, she was alone except for Laserbeak who was flying above her silently. She reached one of the main pathways and turned…

 _…_ _and turned and turned around until her head started to spin, laughing out loud. The small four years old girl squealed in delight and continued to rush after her much bigger sister trying to catch her. Who would have expected her parents to have one more child at their age? But there she was, chasing after her, and she couldn't believe her mum and dad were ever concerned for her being angry at them. Ridiculous! She pretended to stumble to the ground with a soft shriek which made her sister tackling her with a force only a toddler could apply. She picked her up, smiling at her and turned…_

…to the left. She still only felt the void inside of her while she kept walking down the path, moving as quietly as the snow was falling to the ground, covering the world under a cold white blanket. The only sound that could be heard was the snow crunching under her feet. Even Laserbeak didn't utter any sound right now. After a few more steps she stopped and lifted her head…

 _…_ _to the night sky as she was standing on the veranda and sighed. School will be over soon and yet, she still didn't know what to do with herself. "I wouldn't be concerned that much if I were you", her dad said with a hand on her head and an assuring smile on his face, "I didn't know what to make of myself at your age either. I have grown up nevertheless, and so will you." She smiled softly and looked to her mother as well._

 _"_ _You know, I think you should focus on your achievements rather than the unknown future. You will graduate soon! You should allow yourself to be proud. And you should be awarded." Her mother looked over to her husband with a hardly hidden smile. "Tell her"._

 _Her father laughed. "We thought we could go on a little vacation after your graduation, the whole lot of us. Maybe somewhere warmer? It would do us well, especially you. Consider it a gift for your excellent grades. What do you think?"_

 _She cheered loudly, excited and fixed her gaze…_

…to the gravestone before her. She closed her eyes as if she could make it disappear this way but, of course, it wouldn't. The weight on her chest became much heavier, clenching her heart hard though the void inside her remained untouched. She didn't move. Not until she gathered the courage to read over the tomb's epigraph.

She fell to her knees, feeling a violent tremble coming up. A chocked sob erupted from her as she saw the names on the stone. Her father. Her mother. Her sister… Her own name. She saw the names along with the date of death. It was the very same day when everything has changed. No. no. no. no.

No.

The silence was crushing her from the inside and the void spread to her whole being. It hurt physically. Her eyes welled up with tears, glowing blue tears who found their way down her cheeks. She has been alone all the time. All those horrible years, her family has been dead and she hasn't been able to sense it. They have been everything that has kept her fighting, the only thing that has kept her alive. The prospect of seeing them again and of getting back home has made her run for her life but they didn't make it that day. They have been killed. All of them.

The pain was overwhelming. It shuttered the void to pieces, filling it up with a mass of emotions she barely could handle. Pain. Grief. Sorrow. Loneliness. Blame.

But there was so much more. She closed her eyes again, embracing the feelings without resistance, clenching her fists. She let the anger grow, the fury rise. She thought about a face to blame their deaths on it but there was none. She hasn't seen who killed them, she didn't even know!

So, the wrath spread and it felt like it was infecting and spoiling her soul deeply and badly. She didn't even know she was capable of such powerful and terrible feelings. In all her life, she has never been this enraged, this angry, this furious. And because there was no face to blame those feelings on, they all sank down on herself.


	4. First steps

"I feel like med bay is becoming my secondary quarter" Starscream greeted Knockout and Breakdown with a rumble", how is the little pest?"

The seeker looked around, spotting the human lying on a bare table in the far corner of the room. She was recharging, as she has been a lot during the past few days and even when she has been awake she hasn't left med bay or done anything else than brooding. Albeit Starscream was standing some distance away, he was completely aware of the blue glow on her cheeks. "What a waste of energon. Pathetic."

"Actually, she can afford it", Knockout disagreed, surprising the seeker, "look at these readings."

Starscream moved in closer beside the doctor, looking the readings over, then frowned, "Knockout, I am not a medic! What is this?"

Breakdown chuckled lowly, making the commander scowl at him and explained in Knockouts place. "The human's consumption of energon is the lowest we have ever encountered so far, even considering her small frame. She is metabolizing the stuff surprisingly effective."

"We have been able to perform further tests on her" Knockout added, "I needed to readjust my best microscope in order to do so but it was worth it, considering the test results diverged significantly from expectations. For example,…"

Starscream cut the doctor off with a scoff. "How do you know they diverged? Wouldn't that presuppose to know what is 'normal' for a human being? Tell me, Knockout, have you been expanding your horizon as a doctor?"

The seeker sneered at the red mech but the doctor only rolled his optics in irritation. "Of course, I did! Have you already forgotten what Lord Megatron was threatening us with in case we wouldn't be able to fix her the first time? As a matter of fact, we almost killed her back then, only sheer luck has been saving us! I do not intend to risk my lustrous finish by ignoring her specific biology again."

Breakdown smirked. "You should see him when he tries to study that specific biology. It's hilarious! Haven't seen a mech changing his expressions so many times within an hour. I wonder how his faceplates are dealing with the swift turns of confusion, disgust, surrender and stubbornness."

Knockout purred and nudged the blue mech. "You sure are the best partner one could wish for, Breakdown."

The human started to toss and turn gently from one side to another. That aside, she didn't make a sound. No sobbing, no crying even if it was obvious she was in great emotional pain. The mechs however, only glared at her for a moment.

"If I may change the subject", Knockout pouted, "what about that ship we are pursuing? Are we any closer to it?"

Starscream shrugged. The encounter with the Decepticon originated vessel didn't go exactly as planned. Its course has altered repeatedly in an erratic way since they intended to rendezvous with it, causing the Nemesis to adapt its own course several times. So, instead of reaching the vessel within two days as lord Megatron has intended, they were chasing after it for almost a week now.

"We are closer, actually. Or should I say, finally? I expect us to catch up any minute. Though, even with Soundwave's skilled observation techniques, we are no closer to explain what exactly is going on with it."

The human suddenly woke up with a violent intake and hiss, looking around and panting heavily. Starscream huffed, clearly annoyed, when the human looked around and focused her glare at the three mechs. After she has calmed down a bit she realized her face was all wet with tears but she didn't bother to wipe them away. Before any of the mechs could start to plague her with comments in a condescending manner, the ship made a harsh move, as if crashing into something. The human almost fell off the table.

"What was that?", Breakdown asked while trying not to waver. "Are we under attack?"

The seeker didn't need to assume anything, as Megatron's voice sounded in the med bay. "Starscream, Knockout, report to the bridge at once! We have reached the vessel." There was a brief pause, then their leader added: "Bring the human as well!"

Said human looked up tiredly and with an emotionally impassive face. She didn't even fight or tried to get away from the seekers servo, who was grabbing her unceremoniously, carrying her out of the med bay, while the other mechs followed their commander.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Megatron couldn't take it any longer!

If he had known in what state the human would be left after travelling to that graveyard, he maybe would have forbidden it. It was not like he could feel her feelings or hear her thoughts at any time, thanks Primus, but when it comes to strong and deep emotions such as the grief she was struggling with right now, he could hardly focus on anything else than her pain.

As he has felt the anger within her, the growing rage, he thought he could deal with it perfectly, for he was no stranger to such emotions. He remembered feeling the same way, the passionate fury after finding out the high council had been rejected his vision of a newly defined order back on Cybertron so many time ago and denied him the title of a Prime only to see how it was handed over to Orion Pax, whom he had considered a brother back then. His former friend's betrayal in front of the council and the fact that the matrix of leadership was given to him shortly after… That rage has changed him into an even more radical mech.

The anger was still dwelling within her, of course, and will be for quite some time but right now, with all the grief and sorrow and numbness, she was not bearable! That _connection_ was all but inconvenient and he was no patient mech. He would pull her out of that pathetic state his own way!

"Lord Megatron", one of the drones who was maneuvering the Nemesis piped up, "we have a visual on the vessel. We are approaching its position, though it still doesn't answer our hails nor does it demonstrate the intention to decrease speed."

The warlord growled. "I have had enough! We shall give them a proper motivation to heed their lord and master. Power up short range weapons! Disable their energy core so they are forced to stop!"

The present drones obeyed the warlord's orders and fired a calculated set of shots at the other vessel. They didn't need to wait long for a response as the ship fired back at them surprisingly, making the Decepticon leader holler in anger. "They DARE to attack! Fire again! Disable their weapon systems as well! I will no longer allow them to fool me!"

The drones fired at the vessel and disabled both, their navigation and weapon systems with impressive precision. The warlord opened a COMM. "Starscream, Knockout, report to the bridge at once! We have reached the vessel." A thought struck him and he sneered. "Bring the human as well!"

Soundwave approached his master with his visor displaying the few information he has gathered on the ship. "So, it seems to be a science vessel, how intriguing! But how is it they were firing at us? Are there Autobots aboard who invaded the ship?"

Soundwave's visor buzzed, showing further data. The ship didn't have any known identification, nor were there any signs of intruders or life signals. It was maneuvering on its own. It was also shielded to prevent unauthorized access via ground bridge.

"You can easily break through that shield by decoding the shield's frequency. That ship may be of good use. I don't want to breach in to access the vessel."

Soundwave nodded and started to modulate the shield frequency as the doors opened with a soft hiss, letting in Starscream and the other mech Megatron has summoned, including the human who was sitting in his second's clenched claws with a numb expression. The warlord stifled another growl.

"Starscream, gather some of your seekers to cover you and Knockout while investigating the ship's value as soon as Soundwave disables their shielding. If this truly is a scientific vessel I want to know exactly what they are working on."

"I assume, they didn't just tell us", the silver seeker smirked, "they wish for the hard way then."

"Indeed." Megatron turned to his second and medic with a frown. "They attacked us a moment ago. Proceed with caution. If there are Autobot invaders, call for backup. If you encounter our kind, demand to speak with the one in charge of the vessel. He shall report and explain himself directly to me."

"Yes, master."

Soundwave turned to Megatron again as he succeeded to disable the other ship's shielding, however displayed on his visor, that he couldn't access the inner systems of the ship yet. There must be another kind of shield, cloaking the databank from the inside. It would take some time to crack that one.

The surveillance officer glanced wordlessly at the human. _'You will be connected to me while accessing the ships systems from the inside. I will lead you through the flow of data to locate the important information.'_

The women flinched when her mind was simply invaded by Soundwave's presence as it has been before. It was terrifying how easily the mech was able to do so.

"But… I don't know how to link to the systems at all", she said with a lazy voice, "yes, I did it once but I was unaware of doing so."  
Starscream growled lightly when the human piped up, assuming she was having a conversation with the silent mech again. Megatron didn't need to hear any of Soundwave's words to conclude the plan he himself has made up already. He glared at the human.

"You will accompany them so that we can download the data the ship's crew is obviously trying to hide from us. Soundwave will guide you in your task. You are to follow his commands. As you are to follow those given to you by either Starscream or Knockout. Are we clear?"  
The human looked up at the warlord from Starscream's now relaxed servo with light confusion, but nodded and hummed quietly. "Yes, my lord."

Megatron watched the small group leaving the bridge. The task given to the human was not an easy one therefore it should distract her from the dark thoughts and pull her out from the numbness for the time being, giving the warlord a little rest.

oooooooooooooooooooo

She graciously was allowed to walk on her own after they reached the other side of the ground bridge. She felt violated in being forced to participate in this mission but knew she didn't have a choice. She looked around with a grim expression on her face, observing the surroundings as well as the faces of the mechs above her. They had their blasters transformed out even before they have entered the ground bridge.

She has expected to be greeted by one of the foreign ship's crew members. But the corridor they have landed in and which looked quite similar to those of the Nemesis lacked any presence beside their own. No one was waiting for them, no one was trying to defend the ship from intruders, no one welcomed them.

"That's odd, isn't it?", Knockout vocalized what she was thinking, "I have expected a welcome committee of some kind. Well, better there is no one out there who can scratch my …."

Starscream grumbled annoyed, cutting the red mech off. "Stop brabbling and start investigating. You are here as a science officer after all, are you not? Do your handy work, doctor."

She didn't listen to their verbal fight as she closed her eyes reluctantly and tried to access the ships systems. It didn't take long for her to feel ridiculous. What was she supposed to do? Stretch out her inner feelers? Was she supposed to feel anything at all? She was getting angrier by the second which startled her all the same. She didn't know herself being this impatient and easy to lose temper. She felt so different, since…

 _'_ _Just look around.'_ Soundwave's specific voice echoed in her mind. ' _You will in fact find a connection on your own soon. The moment you access the systems, I will stabilize the link immediately, making it easier to search through the data you are not yet able to comprehend.'_

She scowled but moved on after the mechs who have finally decided to proceed with their weapons ready. She had to run of course to keep up with them. They crossed corridor after corridor, searched in some quarters but found nothing more than creepy silence. It was only when they reached the lifts they realized they were stuck. One Vehicon reached out to the lift's console but shook his head shortly after.

"I am not able to access the lift's controls", the drone informed, adding: "and I'm quite sure there is no other way to reach the other decks."

Knockout scoffed: "Even if we could reach the other decks, we still don´t know the structure of this ship. Wherever we go, we will always have the disadvantage of not knowing what to expect."

"We don't have much of a choice", Starscream answered with an unsettled expression on his faceplates, "We will have to call in for another ground bridge whenever we need to access another deck until we find something of use. Or someone! Where the slag are the ones who run the damn ship!? It undoubtedly cannot…"

The doors opened with a hiss, startling all present mechs and provoking them to aim inside the empty lift. Starscream stared at the one Vehicon beside the lift's console angrily. "You just said?"

"It wasn't me, commander!", the trooper defended himself, looking around as confused as all the others. It was not until Knockout poked on the commander's shoulder plates, gesturing to the human whose optics were glowing brightly blue in a very particular manner.

' _Excellent. Now, follow my lead_.' The woman nodded absentmindedly, making it clear to the unit she was taking Soundwave's orders right now. They waited.

The silent mech lead her through utmost confusing data, using her as a link. He found the ship's plans, his first target, quickly and converted them so she would be able to read them easily. She frowned but nodded again.

 _'_ _Stay focused. I need to search the ship's systems for further information but in order to do so, I still require you as a link. That aside, you will lead the troop to the vessel's science lab_.' He showed her the most direct way. _'It will be difficult to divide attention._ '

Difficult was no word to put it! She didn't even manage to turn her gaze to the mechs beside her without corrupting the link. The lift closed. She felt both Soundwave's pull on her mind again and the questioning and impatient glance from Starscream all at once. How was she supposed to do that!

She scowled, trying to not lose her cool. She took a deep intake, more out of habit than of necessity and managed to open the lift again. "Soundwave discovered the ship's structure", she informed the mechs through clenched teeth, "We are to reach the science lab. I will lead the way and handle the systems to get there."

"Then by all means", Starscream bowed sarcastically, "lead!"

They all fit into the huge lift and moved down to the ship's belly. The woman even had to focus on walking without bumping into a wall or a mechs ped, amusing them all to the pits! She felt how Soundwave was only partly able to search the ship's systems efficiently with her being unable to do the multitasking. Though, the lab wasn't far. She should be able to focus on the task at hand until they reached it.

As the lift stopped violently, she was endowed with angry glances from the Decepticons, especially from Knockout who has crushed against the lift's wall. The door opened, and she all but froze while Starscream, the medic and the troopers aimed their blasters into the hallway, where several mechs were lying on the ground everywhere. Their chassises were badly damaged and they didn't need to guess what had caused their demise. Half of the corridor didn't exist anymore. Debris and melted metal were blocking the way to the science lab, if it even was still intact. There was no way to get in there.

When it became clear there was no one online to threaten them, Knockout approached one of the dead mechs and knelt beside him to examine the motionless chassis while the others waited in front of the lift alerted. Starscream looked around with confusion, partly hiding behind his seekers.

She felt that pull again, more persistent this time and realized, that she has been blocking the silent mech out of surprise and shock. "I am sorry, Soundwave", she tried to establish the link again and explained, "the way you told us to follow is no more. Something blew up the whole corridor along with the mechs who had been inside here at that time. Is there another way…"

 _'_ _Stay put, all of you'_ , the silent mech only said and rushed through the database even more frantically, forcing the woman to hiss and concentrate even more. He searched for very specific data now, personal log entries, and quickly found something. She was only able to focus on that one task right now, so she didn't hear Knockout murmur.

"Odd. Beside his horribly looking chassis, there are strange marks all over him. The others seem to be in a similar state, though I think what truly caused their demise was still the explosion which," he waved his servos to the scraped end of the corridor, "well, which blew up the lab in the first place."

Suddenly, there was a clang emanating from the walls, like echoing through the shafts surrounding them. It sounded like something was hitting the walls now and then. No. something **s** were crashing into the walls! All mechs aimed their blasters all around them, getting one another in the line of fire.

"Idiots!", Starscream hollered in anger, "you will end up shooting yourselves and me! Lower your weapons and await my commands!"

Before they could comply, the ceiling breached slightly with a jerk, causing a catastrophically panic after the mechs and even the human, who disconnected from Soundwave immediately, realized what came tumbling down at them…

oooooooooooooooooooo

Soundwave quickly found the important log entries and activated the holographic emitter on the bridge to display them. Megatron turned to the hologram of an unknown but obviously old and sick mech. The image was flickering, as if they had not been enough power left when it had been recorded but the warlord noticed the numerous marks on his chassis nevertheless.

"This is the chief commander of …" There was static, and the hologram looked like breaking down but reappeared again. "…no longer. I had to cut the power to the science lab in order to avoid a spread…" Static again.

Megatron scowled at Soundwave but the silent mech didn't move. He couldn't do more than piecing together what was left of the messages.

"…had to destroy the lab but they have survived!... The experiment went terribly wrong! How did that happen? We took every safety precautions but… escaped nonetheless. Now, they are everywh..."

The log entry displayed formulas now, a mass of scientific readings and logs which the warlord studied quickly with a frown. They were somewhat familiar.

While the data kept displaying, the sick mech's voice could still be heard in bits and pieces. "… we… unlikely to …survive… destroy this vessel on sight if …. "

The warlord's optics opened wide with realization. He knew the formula because it was HIS! But when he saw what those fools had been intending to do with it, he all but hollered at Soundwave.

"Open a ground bridge, NOW!" He turned away from the hologram and opened a COMM to his second. "Starscream! Get off the ship at …" There was only harsh static and no one replied. Megatron roared: "Starscream!... Soundwave, why is the bridge not open yet?" He ran beside his surveillance officer to observe what he was doing, "the shield frequency has changed again?! Crack the code and get them out of there, immediately!"

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Scraplets! SCRAPLETS!"

They were everywhere!

As the ceiling has breached, small metallic balls began to fall upon them. The woman has not seen them before, but her instincts were shouting at her to run for it! The balls opened their eyes and their mouths, baring their many rows of tiny but crazy sharp teeth. And they dove on all of them, chasing after every mech on sight. The troopers stroke out wildly, used their blasters to fire at the small parasites and even tried to escape from them but they were trapped! The lift was closed, the other way was blocked and since she has lost the connection to Soundwave, she wasn't able to do anything more than to avoid being trampled by one of the mechs peds.

The woman on the other hand didn't seem to be a good meal. So, she looked around frantically and finally fixed her gaze onto the breach through which the small creatures were still flooding in. She didn't have the time to think when she linked herself to the system again all by herself and instinctively established a force field on the breach to hold off the scraplets from invading the corridor further. But the remaining ones already inside still dove hard at the shrieking mechs. She could see Knockout who has transformed out his surgical saw in an attempt to slice the little pest, crying: "My finish! My beautiful finish!" And she saw Starscream either hiding between his seekers or firing at the parasites and hitting his own troopers recklessly. What kind of commander was he!?

She hissed suddenly, when one of the small creatures bit her in the left wrist out of nowhere. It startled her more than it hurt which confused her, but the confusion only deepened as the scraplet fell off her and stopped moving at all. She lifted her head and realized the ground was covered with dead parasites which have all fallen from the mechs they have bitten. Another one bit her in the right shoulder, causing a hiss out of the woman when she felt a trickle of energon running down her back. That's it? They just needed to hold on until the scraplets drop dead after their bite?

Even the mechs seemed to realize that fact eventually. They smashed the rest of the tiny creatures effectively and allowed themselves to tiredly fall on the ground when there were no scraplets left but jumped to their peds almost as quickly when a ground bridge opened in front of them. Starscream was the first in line to rush through, followed by Knockout. The mechs left the ship one by one in exhaustion, their frames still trembling from the panic before. As only a few of them remained, the force field which was preventing the other scraplets from flooding the corridor gave in all of the sudden.

"RUN!" the woman cried out and lashed forward herself. Of course, she has not been able to hold them off properly! She still did not know WHAT she has done at all! And right now, she did not know what to do about the incoming pest as well. They would dash through the ground bridge and attack everyone on the ship!

She ran as hard as she could and reached the bridge right before the parasites did. As she raced through the vortex, she remembered something that Soundwave has shown her during their first conversation ever. She has not been able to comprehend it back then and did not now, but she used her newfound abilities almost unconsciously to destabilize the swirl, making it explode from the inside. The scraplets which already have managed to enter the bridge got crushed and she was blown out from the ground bridge right in front of the furious warlord.


	5. First steps II

Breakdown never left Knockouts med berth for more than a moment, while no one bothered to look after Starscream. The woman was not surprised after what she has witnessed on her first away mission. The commander hardly deserved the term but though the seeker seemed to be a reckless and cowardly mech, or maybe because no one else cared, she couldn't help but rest beside him on his med berth. He was panting, gasping even, and his faceplates had started to rust. He truly didn't look well, as did not the others.

They have thought it was all over after they succeeded to leave the science ship without more than a few bite marks. Well, the explosion she had caused in order to prevent the disformed Scraplets from entering the Nemesis through the vortex did quite some damage on the bridge but no one cared very long when all members of the troop that have been investigating the other vessel reported to sick bay one after another. Knockout has not been able to find out anything about the disease that has been infected the mechs for he has collapsed in his own med bay right after the third mech who came in. Starscream has been carried in already unconscious shortly after.

She wondered why she was not showing any symptoms because to her there was no doubt the cause of the sudden spread of disease must have been the strange Scraplets. They surely infected the mechs by biting them as they have bitten her. Maybe the physiology of her human part was more resilient to whatever tormented the others right now. Or maybe it was just because she has not been bitten as many times as have been the others.

However, what surprised her the most was to learn that it has been Megatron who created the disease in the first place, a virus he called the cybertronian plague. He has put them all under quarantine after they have returned to the Nemesis. They have not even been allowed to leave the damaged bridge in favor of going to the med bay while Knockout has been ordered to test all their endogenous energon for the plaque on the spot.

The medic has not been able to find any indications of the virus although he has been incredibly thorough in his examinations, considering he even took a sample of her own energon as well but somehow something must have slipped his attention. Her gaze turned to the red mech and Breakdown. The blue mech genuinely worried for the medic which made him work desperately on a cure to save his friend, but he was just the medic's assistant, not a medic himself. Her eyes slowly wandered to the other mech who barely has left med bay since the outbreak. To see Megatron in the lab in the role of a scientist was somewhat confusing and unusual but considering he was the one to create the disease, he was probably the only one to find a cure.

The human took one last gaze over her shoulder on Starscream, then started to climb down the berth the seeker was lying on. This kind of sport was getting fund on her, she thought with irony while crossing the room and climbing up the next object: the lab table the warlord was working at. Megatron noticed the woman and followed her movements casually, growling to himself. He didn't have time to make sure she doesn't kill herself by falling off the med bay's equipment but he allowed her trying so nevertheless since there was no one eager to carry her around and she didn't seem to even like that. She reached the upside and looked at the monitor along with him for a moment before piping up.

"Have you considered me as a helping factor, my lord?" she offered which surprised and, dare he admit, impressed the warlord. That tiny little thing was not stupid.

"I have taken possible antibodies from you into consideration", he answered, "but as for now, I did not find anything that might cure my soldiers."

"Is the whole crew at risk? So far, only those who have been on the other ship seem to be infected. Well, except for me."

Breakdown joined the pair of them at the lab table. "You're right. No one save for the away team is lying around here." He looked over to his comrade. "If I may ask, master? Since you designed the virus in the first place, how is it that the cure you designed along isn't working on them?"

Megatron frowned at the brute but growled: "Because the virus has developed. Those fools have tried to make it even more dangerous in order to use it as a weapon of mass destruction no doubt. I would be impressed by their achievements but sadly, they ended up demonstrating how dangerous it has indeed become."

"I'm sorry to repeat myself, but it seems it cannot spread."

"That is the only advantage we have", Megatron growled, "If it could spread further", he waved his servo to the fully occupied sick bay, "I wouldn't allow them to live any longer."  
The woman winced lightly at the comment though continued: "The other ship's crew has been eradicated by the disease, true, but that doesn't necessarily mean they haven't been able to design a cure in case they got infected as well. They simply may have had no time left to put it into use. I know we cannot download any data from outside the ship so can't we just go back to the vessel and…"

Megatron effectively cut her off with a dark stare. "and risk another one getting infected?" He snarled. "In case you haven't noticed during your own trip there, the ship is crawling by genetically altered Scraplets who bite whatever is moving as they have demonstrated even on you. No one is going back to that vessel."

"I will go", Breakdown offered with a firm expression but couldn't proceed as the warlord hollered.

"Do I speak a foreign language all of the sudden? I said, NO ONE!" he stared the blue mech down who winced desperately as a whimper emanated from Knockout.

"They cannot infect me, my lord", the human tried regardless of the growl Megatron was gifting her with, "Maybe I can find something. With Soundwave's help of course."

"The Scraplets may not have been paying attention to you because there have been others whom they considered a more worthwhile target. But, if you return on your own you will be their only prey. They would tear you apart. I will not repeat myself again. No one enters the other ship again."

Megatron took a glance around sick bay, observing his plagued soldiers for a while before he clarified: "If we do not find a cure before they're done for it, we will destroy the science vessel and return to earth." He warlord took a datapad and continued to work, demonstrating this way that this conversation was over.

oooooooooooooooooooo

They would die.

But she couldn't watch them die! She wasn't ready to let anyone die again so soon, even if she didn't know the mechs for more than a few days. She lost her family because she has not been able to do anything to save them. She didn't even know they have been in danger back then. Now, she knew. Now, she was able to do something. Anything would be better than to stay and watch them perish. If she could just open a ground bridge to the other vessel without alarming Soundwave at the same time…

She was staring at the monitor in the med bay, trying as hard as she could not to link herself to the systems of the Nemesis. If she did, the silent mech would know immediately and tell Megatron about her attempts. There wouldn't be another chance.

She jumped from one spot to another in order to handle the monitor manually but the more she tried to access ground bridge controls the more she became frustrated. Megatron will be back soon for sure and she was stuck in the systems because she didn't understand that stupid cybertronian language! Her intuition on the matter wasn't enough this time, not without Soundwave to guide her.

But she wouldn't give up just yet. She wouldn't stop trying until the warlord returned. She would…

A shadow fell upon her frame and she winced violently as she turned around and realized Breakdown was standing right behind her, scowling at her with a grim expression. She let her gaze wander between the blue hulking mech and the screen, which was displaying her obvious attempts to disregard Megatron's orders.

"I… I just…I needed…" she stammered, then shook her head, angry all of the sudden, "Look! I can do that! I have to try! I was there before, I know the ship's plans…This may be the only.."

"You need to cover up your tracks."

The human only stared dumbfounded as Breakdown started to type something into the console, making her step aside. Her eyes widened even more when she realized what the mech was doing.

"Listen, girl. You are to avoid being discovered by those horrible pests! If they find you, you will be scraped! No one can help you there, I cannot even COMM you. Stay in the shadows, move slowly and head for the science lab. If there is anything left of it, you might be lucky enough to find something that can help us find a cure." He looked over to Knockout, who was lying on a med berth in his own med bay, almost motionless except for a cough from time to time. As were the others. "And hurry. They will not hold on for much longer."

She nodded, gathering her courage by taking a deep breathe. "I'll do my best."

"I will open a ground bridge right here. Meaning: Soundwave will know immediately was is going on, so, when the bridge opens you ran through it instantly, before he can shut it down. After that, you will have to deal with him nevertheless, If I got that right, but he will not be able to force you back."

He prepared to open the vortex, but before doing so, he took a few seconds more to look down at the tiny human who was preparing herself mentally with a confused glance.

"I'm somehow sure you know why I am doing this", Breakdown had to deter himself from shooting another worried glance at the red mech. "But why are you so eager to take the risk? You are none of us. You don't owe us anything."

"You're wrong", the human said with a gentle shake of her head and gestured to Knockout and Starscream. "They saved my life. I am well aware they didn't have much of a choice but that doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't be alive right now if not for them. Besides...well… I have other reasons, too." She shook off the sad memories quickly. "Just open the ground bridge already! We are running out of time!"  
Breakdown nodded with a hard expression on his faceplates, offering his servo to her. She jumped onto it, trembling in anticipation. "On my mark." He typed something into the console again, "One. Two. Three!"

The already well-known vortex of buzzing green light opened right in the middle of the med bay and she didn't look back as she jumped off Breakdown's servo even when she heard a roar that must have emanated from Megatron, who clearly has entered the lab the same moment she left it.

oooooooooooooooooooo

The ground bridge opened inside the same corridor through which she has left the ship before, but

she didn't have time to look around in order to ensure the Scraplets were gone, when one of them ambushed her from behind, biting her in the left leg and falling down limb shortly after. That happened so fast, she wasn't able to gather her thoughts as she heard a few more coming with a mechanical sound similar to a dentist's tool. She ran, looking around for cover and found a small breach in the melted wall where the door of the ship's science lab has been located once. The Scraplets were smaller than her so they would be able to follow her through but she wouldn't be as vulnerable as to stand openly on display in the middle of the huge corridor. So much for 'don't let them find you'! That went quick!

As she passed the breach she picked up a piece of deformed metal, turned back and realized, there were not much of them in the corridor, maybe just a dozen. She braced herself and raised her temporary weapon. They couldn't attack all at once for the breach was too narrow for that! The first parasite who tried to clench her between his teeth got stroke by the metal mace, as well as the second and third but after that she couldn't hit them all any longer. She felt them bite her several times, in the same leg as seconds before, in both her arms, in her side, her shoulder. The only thing she could do was to fend them off her head and to continue to strike as many of them as possible in order to avoid being injured too seriously. They may fall off her after their bite but she hissed in pain nevertheless and felt the small energon trickles soak her clothes from the many bite marks.

It became silent after she crashed the last Scraplet and she panted heavily. She felt dizzy all of the sudden but managed to step deeper into the breach as quietly as possible. She was sure there were more Scraplets crawling around the ship and she wouldn't be able to fend them off if they decide to assault her all together. She has to remain silent. "Stay in the shadows", Breakdown has told her. Well, she would heed his advice!

Her pants calmed. The little wounds were hurting but not as much as to hinder her from going on and now, that she was able to focus on her surroundings again, she felt the familiar pull on her mind. She sighed, not able to lock Soundwave out and expected the silent mech to tell her she was to return to the Nemesis at once, but it was the voice of Megatron which made her jump on the spot.

"Return to the ship this instant!" he hollered through the connection Soundwave has established, "So that I can tear you apart for disregarding my orders!"

She shook her head vigorously though no one could see it of course. Her head felt heavy. "Regardless of your tempting words, I cannot return right now. I…"

"This INSTANT, human!" Megatron didn't need to vocalize a proper threat for his voice was telling her all she needed to know about what he would do, if she didn't follow his orders immediately. "if you are not back within clicks, I will…"

"Come for me?", she challenged, "I don't think so. You are the leader of the Decepticons! I highly doubt you to risk being infected as your soldiers have been without having a cure to your disposal. Sending another mech doesn't make sense either. They won't find me. I will be crawling through breaches or walls or shafts in order to reach the science lab."

She sensed another roar coming up, so she tried with a softer, more humbled but in the same time firm voice. "My lord, I will not return until I find something to cure those mechs in sick bay. I can't let them die…I just can't! You can tear me apart later, but right now I could really use Soundwave's guid…"

She paused when she felt a wave of nausea making her waver. She could see Soundwave's intention to inform his master about her condition and begging him not to was futile. She heard the warlord growl deeply.

"You are infected!?"

"I may have been sick as long as the others", now that she thought about it, it was making sense, "Only two Scraplets bit me during my first trip here so maybe it wasn't enough to make the disease spread as fast as it did within the others. I have been attacked by a bunch more only seconds ago." She hissed at the burning feeling the marks were causing. There was silence for quite some time, so she intervened softly before a decision not in her favor could be make. "My lord, I will proceed. With help, or without."

She could almost feel Megatron's rage within her chest, making her own spark flatter as Soundwave cut the warlords COMM off in order to ensure she could focus only on him. She sighed in relief as the silent mech started to run a diagnosis on the ship's construction plans, trying to locate her and to find a way into the lab.

 _'_ _You currently seem to be standing inside a wall. It doesn't make sense.'_

"There was a breach close by, when I was attacked earlier. I needed to hide from the Scraplets, so they couldn't bite me to pieces."

 _'_ _Get out of there. Follow the corridor back to the breach through which the parasites attacked you and the troopers in the first place. That breach leads to a shaft above the corridor and will lead you to the science lab as well, if the shaft above it is still undamaged.'_

She nodded and left her cover but not without checking first if there were any Scraplets left outside. When she deemed it to be save, she ran across the corridor, reaching the spot below the breach she once has been able to seal off for a moment before the Scraplets had crushed her barrier. She shuddered.

"That is very high…" She swallowed hard, "how am I supposed to get there…"

She knew it before Soundwave could provide her with the easiest climbing route to reach the breach. How she hated climbing already! She huffed. There was no point in complaining on her situation as she has been the one to get her in that mess in the first place. She has wanted it that way and right now, she wouldn't be deterred from fulfilling the task she has bestowed upon herself.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Soundwave has managed to establish a visual on the corridor through the link he was sharing with the human. Megatron watched the woman simply starting to climb the wall as if she has been trained to do so, as if she was not afraid at all. He knew better, and he couldn't help but to be impressed by her bravery. She knew she could be torn apart by only a small amount of those altered Scraplets, or she could fall off the wall, which, at that height, would undoubtedly break her fragile frame. But she didn't even allow herself to think of the dangers, only about how she could encounter them. Did she get that from him, or was that a character trait of her own? He couldn't be sure at this point.

Megatron ignored Breakdown who started to wake up from his unconsciousness. The silver mech has hit him directly in the faceplates to vent his anger as he has realized the blue mech has been the one who opened the unauthorized ground bridge and he would do far more to punish his minion for the disobedience but right now he had to focus on the human. The blue mech stood finally but kept his distance from the warlord and watched the screen from the far.

Megatron growled darkly when the human started to weaken due to the now visible spread of the virus inside her. Her eyes, though glowing from the connection to Soundwave, were dimmer than before and she struggled to tighten her grip on the wall as she started to climb the ceiling overhead. The warlord hissed and his optics widened angrily when she almost slipped off the ceiling but managed to avoid the fall. Breakdown was not only following the human's movements now.

She reached the breach, which was the trickiest part. Both mechs could see how much the human struggled, her optics were shut tightly as she started to swing herself back and forth so that she could reach the edge with her feet. With what seemed to be the last of her strength, she reached the edge and pulled herself up and inside the shaft, gone from the screen.

Megatron ordered Soundwave to give him a visual when he was able to once more. Then, he put a huge cube in the middle of the room, preparing a generous amount of untouched energon within it and linking it to the infusion tanks the sick mechs were provided with energy from. Breakdown understood what the warlord was intending to do and assisted his master without being asked.

oooooooooooooooooooo

She let out a deep sigh as she laid on the cold ground of the shaft. Her eyes were lightening the space around her, as did the leaking energon from her small wounds while she rested for a moment. She still couldn't believe that she actually did it. If not for those physical changes, she never would have been able to perform such an act! But right now, those changes caused an alien virus to spread inside her body, eliciting a soft whimper of pain. She felt weak as well and she noticed the light emanating from her eyes was flickering a bit.

 _'_ _You have to move,'_ came Soundwave's voice and he sounded urgent, _'You do not have time to rest. The virus will spread further from now on and render your frame useless eventually. Before that happens, you must reach the science lab and let me access its systems.'_

She took a deep breath and pushed herself up. She was still able to stand and to walk, and to maintain the link to the surveillance officer so she didn't waste any more time, like the silent mech demanded, and followed the shaft in the direction Soundwave was showing her to.

"Soundwave, how are the others?"

 _'_ _Don't distract yourself. Either you know or don't know their condition, it wouldn't help you in your task at hand. Focus.'_

"I need to know", she insisted, "are they still alive? Please, Soundwave, tell me."

 _'_ _Their condition is critical',_ the silent mech finally answered _, 'but they are still online. Is the shaft still operational? Is any debris blocking your way?'_

"No. The way ahead is clear. I can even see light coming up the closer I'm approaching the lab." The woman followed the brightening light and almost reached another damaged section of the shaft but stopped midway before she could peek into the lab through another breach when she heard that mechanical noise around her again and froze. The sound was a little different this time but it was enough to put her on edge. It was above her, below and …behind her! She spun around and nearly fell off the edge of the breach when she found a single Scraplet flying in front of her with bare teeth. She couldn't go back the shaft and she couldn't just jump off. If it was just for this one parasite, she wouldn't care being bitten once more as she was already infected but where there was one…

The tiny creature watched her, clearly confused. It closed its mouth, flew closer to her, showed its teeth and closed his mouth again. The blue glow of the human's eyes and the smell of energon dripping from her wounds were clearly attracting it but it hesitated to attack her. Instead, it landed and looked her from head to toe, coming closer till it made its stand right before her.

"Soundwave… do you see that?"

 _'_ _I do not have a visual on you',_ the mech sounded a little annoyed _, 'but I almost managed to access the lab's systems until you get distracted. Again.'_ There was a brief pause _. 'what is it?'_

The human knelt down and dared to offer a hand to the Scraplet who sniffed at it with great curiosity. His eyes were wide, blinking almost innocently and she noticed a little scratch beside his right eye. "I don't know. I've encountered another Scraplet who nearly attacked me but it stopped. It is standing right before me right now."

She felt something that could be considered a shudder. ' _Congratulation. You now know what a usual Scraplet look like. It must be one of the protoforms they have experimented on.'_

"They all look alike! This one only behaves different." She would be investigating this almost cute creature but there was no time so she focused to deepen the link to the silent mech again while trying to ignore the increasing sound around her, "do you have access now?"

 _'_ _I do. Starting analysis. Stay where you are. There is no need for you to…'_

She wasn't able to hear the last part of the sentence when the shaft's section she was standing in started to rumble loudly, making her waver violently. Then, with a loud crack, something was making the section sag down suddenly. The human stumbled back to the fissure and tried to reach anything to hold onto but there was only thin air. One more step and she felt nothing under her feet. She fell and experienced a rush of adrenaline while turning around in the air to face the free fall. She expected time to slow down but the opposite happened. Her instincts took over her mind quickly and something inside her changed rapidly. It felt like every part of her, maybe even every cell was starting to rebuild. She tumbled, then stopped midair abruptly.

Her arms were crossed in front of her face in a protective way and it took quite some time before she calmed down to a state she dared to pry through her fingers only to be startled by a great army of Scraplets flying right in front of her. With a soft squeal she fell again and crushed hard on a metallic surface, overturning several times, then curling in tightly for a moment. Whatever just happened, it was making her feel very dizzy again. Her body felt sore and her breathes were more like pants. She started to sound like those mechs in sick bay.

' _Get up'_ , came the strict order with a confused undertone, ' _immediately_!'

She tried to push herself up but it wasn't easy. Her arms were wobbling and her head spinning. When her vision cleared she stared down at her hands with surprise. Instead of fingernails there were sharp silver metallic claws but they appeared to be rusty and fragile at the moment. She checked herself for injuries quickly but miraculously there was not even a scratch beside the bite marks and while examining herself further she found her hair to be of silver colour. Was she going crazy?

' _This will be discussed later'_ , Soundwave remembered her of his presence, ' _You do not have much time left. Are you in imminent danger?'_

She turned around as she remembered the Scraplets during her fall and faced them again but she quickly calmed down when she realized they were locked up in a huge glass container but jumped startled when she turned around just to almost bump into a Scraplet with a scratch over his eye right in front of her. It was that one from before.

"I'm going to suffer a heart attack at some point!" she growled angrily but the growl quickly turned into a heavy cough. "Soundwave, please hurry. I feel like breaking down any minute."

 _'_ _Analysis ongoing. Adapting search pattern and parameters. Stay put. I mean it.'_

It was not like she wanted to get in trouble, she thought, looking at the Scraplet who was observing her closely with huge purple eyes. She reached out a hand again hesitantly and patted his tiny head gently, eliciting a somewhat cheerful sound of the creature. But she stopped when she could see her own reflection on the creature's metallic surface. She almost looked the same 'cept for the silver hair and the claws but she felt so much different. It was strange, considering she even went through some changes already. Her thoughts have been interrupted though when a violent cough shook her frame again, bringing her to her knees. The Scraplet wondered about the reaction and nudged her head gently.

"I don't think you can help me, little thing", she would have smiled maybe but a tremble stopped her. "Soundwave…"

 _'_ _Analysis complete. Result: no formula for a cure could have been discovered_.' She froze in shock but the silent mech hasn't finished yet, ' _the chief scientist has worked on a cure though. It is said there was no time left to leave any more logs on the topic as the ship's crew was decimating by the plague quickly. That was only days ago. If the mech succeeded, he would have synthesized a sample already. Look for filled cubes or any fluids. Those might be the antidotes.'_

She started to look around the lab more closely. The place was a mess. There were tools and debris placed on the lab tables and everywhere on the floor in a chaotic way. Most of the machines and monitors were broken as if there has been a fight which crushed the place. It was a miracle nothing has smashed the glass where the Scraplet protoforms where locked behind. There were three mechs inside the lab as well but none of them would give her any answers anymore. One of them laid in front of a wall that looked quite out of place. She panted still on her knees as she focused, her eyes not glowing constantly but flattering, and found out there was a security closing mechanism which she was able to open easily. A part of the wall moved to the right and revealed a hidden lab station where there were three cubes of dark blue energon laying on a console.

"Soundwave, I found something. Might be an antidote."

 _'_ _I have a clear reading and a visual on the science lab now. The place seems safe enough for one of us to bridge in.'_

"NO! Stay away!" she cried out suddenly when an army of Scraplets invaded the lab from every possible corner. They came through the breach, through other shafts, they were coming out of everywhere. The whole lab was filling with those altered parasites and they spotted her immediately, diving at her with bared teeth. There were far too many of them this time. They would mangle her.

The one Scraplet beside her bared its teeth as well and surprised her by storming hard at his comrades, shredding on of them in a matter of seconds. She lashed out frantically with her claws, tearing the Scraplets closest to her to pieces and injuring herself as well accidently but though it has been unexpectedly to even be able to defend herself like that, she didn't stand a chance against the mass of parasites, especially in her condition. She gasped loudly when she felt one by one biting her again but squealed even louder when she saw one of the three cubes shatter due to the wildly moving Scraplets, making the precious fluid spoil to the ground. Her vision started to blur now and then but she kept fighting with her bare hands, already wavering dangerously. Now there were enough bite marks to actually feel pain from the outside while the virus induced a very sick feeling from the inside. While still flailing, she tried to find an inspiration on how to get out of this situation and locked her eyes on the huge glass container, where the usual Scraplets were stuck against the glass with hungry glances and bared teeth.

When she heard another cube shatter, she hissed in panic and fear and reached out a hand for the container and then time truly slowed down. She felt an unknown power building up inside of her and through her hand a blast of blue glowing energy hit the glass of the Scraplet's confinement, shattering it like the cubes have been before and dashing her in a high arch off the lab table and to the ground. This time she could hear a crack and an excruciating pain exploded in her left arm. She watched through clenches eyes the army of usual, hungry Scraplets devour the army of altered parasites little by little, leaving no more than metal chips. A shiver ran down her spine as she prayed fervently that the last cube wouldn't break in the crossfire and that it actually contained the cure to save Starscream, to save Knockout and the others. And her as well, preferably.

It didn't take long for the genetically altered Scraplets to vanished without a trace, leaving behind the usual ones who started to help themselves further on the labs equipment. She fought unconsciousness as long as she could but her resistance wouldn't last for long. She felt her body change again, her hair turned brown and her fingers looked like usual fingers within an instant, only her bright blue eyes remained. And she felt weaker than before. She was able to only lift her head a bit when a ground bridge opened up regardless of the danger the Scraplets still pose to any Cybertronian. Even through her blurred vision, she could make out the shape of the Decepticon warlord emerge from the vortex but after that, she fainted.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"I think she is about to wake up", came Starscream's distant voice."

"About time." That one definitely belonged to a growling Megatron.

"She truly is resilient, isn't she?" Breakdown?

"This is the second time she is coming to her senses after almost being killed," Knockout hummed amused, "I hope this is not becoming a habit."

"I hope so myself", she said weakly, clenching her eyes once more before opening them up eventually. The four mechs were standing right beside the med berth she was lying on. It must truly look ridiculous, her tiny frame on the huge sick bay's inventory.

"You have been a fool", Megatron snarled at her before she was even completely online.

"And you sure do not waste time," she said with a hoarse small voice, moving her head to the side to look at the warlord.

"Not only have you been ignoring my orders, but you also incited one of my subjects to disregard me as well." Megatron took a quick glance at Breakdown who flinched, then continued with a cold voice. "You may have found the cure but I will not condone an act like that again. Am I being clear?"

She nodded: "Quite clear, my lord."

"And let us not forget how poorly you have acted on your mission in general. Soundwave told me he hasn't been able to search the ship's systems for longer than a few minutes in a row. Then again, Knockout showed me your self-inflicted wounds by your own claws and I witnessed myself how your own energon blast dashed you through half of the science lab."

"A crash that broke your arm", Knockout added, "You know, fixing you up requires meticulous detail work under the microscope and I don't have the ability to deal well with sensitive issues."

"Sorry, Doc", she looked down on her splinted arm, "I know I haven't done the best job to save the day."

"And last but not least," Starscream piped up, "your first flight attempt was more like a hardly controlled crash landing."

She looked from Knockout to Breakdown, then glanced at Starscream and finally turned her attention back to Megatron. "I am sorry. I feel so strange throughout all these changes. It's like I must learn how to walk again. I guess I indeed need a whole lot of guidance. "

"And I will provide you with guidance," Megatron stated, surprising all present mechs, a human included, "As we do not know about the full range of your abilities yet, you will be trained on those we already discovered. Soundwave will instruct you how to make use of cybertronian cybersystems and teach you the cybertronian language in general as well. Starscream will be your flight teacher. You will learn from Knockout and Breakdown and from the whole crew by living among us. You will learn how to _walk_ again. And I…" he chuckled darkly, "I will teach you how to fight."

The way he was emphasizing it made her freeze, but she felt excitement coming up inside her as well.

"Your lessons will start after you have recovered from your injuries and the virus."

"Which I think will not take long, master", Knockout interfered, "Her highly effective consumption of energon will undoubtedly help her heal fast." He wanted to say something more but Starscream surprised them all by his next question.

"What is your name, actually?" Starscream growled lightly when he saw Knockout's and Breakdown's dumbfounded expressions. "What? We cannot call her 'human' or 'pathetic little creature' all the time if she is to stay here, now can we?"

The woman wanted to answer but hesitated all of the sudden. She felt like her name was presenting someone who she wasn't anymore. Not after all those years of torture and captivity, not after the loss of her family and her known life and especially not after all those changes as of late. She wanted to voice those thoughts but the warlord cut her off.  
"Fave."

The mechs stared at their leader puzzled as if he has made a strange noise. Starscream cleared his throat and murmured: "I don't think I understand."

"Fave it is. Her name."

With that, the hulking mech turned away and walked out of sick bay, leaving behind very confused beings, the human most of all.

"Fave…" she whispered to herself as if trying out the sound of it. "Fave…"

"Did he just….", Knockout and Breakdown started simultaneously but it was Starscream who completed the sentence.

"Yes. Our lord and master just gave her a name. Seems like your theory is making more and more sense, Knockout."

"What theory?" The human… Fave asked.


	6. Another perspective

It was the first time since she ended up on the Nemesis that she took her time to watch herself in a mirror closely.

If not for the reflection following her movements, Fave wouldn't recognize herself. She looked healthy, not so much emaciated as she has been before getting her first infusion of energon even though she had to recover from the aftereffects of the cybertronian plague. The bite marks from the Scraplet invasion have vanished as well due to the unexpected quality of medical care around her. Knockout was dealing well with what he called the awful human biology even when he was complaining whenever it came to treat her. Her arm was healing quickly as well, as forecasted by the red mech.

She shook her head, messing up her almost hip-long hazelnut brown and lightly curled thick hair that way. Her reflection looked back at her in astonishment with those bright blue eyes, but it showed a little smirk as well when she transformed into her alternate form, accompanied by that very specific sound which was emanating from the others as well whenever they change into their alt mode. That was what the mechs called it: transforming, and she truly felt the transformation in every single cell of her. Her outward appearance however changed only little. Her brown hair simply turned brightly silver and her claws became as sharp as razorblades. But there were not only visible changes that came along with the transformation. She also gained access to a pulsing power located deep within her chest. She felt her spark swell as she made a harsh move in excitement and unintentionally fired a blast of energy through sick bay. The energy bounced off the walls several times, making a mess and startling Knockout when she hit one of his tools. The medic scowled at her.

"Fave! I needed that!"

"Sorry, Doc!" She looked down from the imbedded shelf she called her own corner from now on and acted as feeling very guilty, but she wasn't able to hold back a smirk which rather turned into a choke when she saw something from behind her own small berth Breakdown has constructed for her peeking out. She shooed her little secret back to his hiding place and turned back to Knockout, pretending everything was fine, when he piped up again.

"I really don't understand why you wouldn't want to have your own quarters", he rumbled, "I mean, this is my lab! If you do not stop distracting me from my work, I will banish you!"

"Sure, you would", she answered with a small chuckle, "If you were working at all!"

Knockout couldn't come up with a proper answer as Starscream entered the lab. After learning that the 'pathetic little human' hasn't left his side when he was sick until she has set out to find the cure that saved his life and that of the others, the seeker has been there whenever she has woken up, checking on her and asking if she felt up to a flight lesson. But for some reason she was stalling from that particular lesson on purpose under the pretense of not feeling well enough due to her still healing arm. Knockout and Breakdown have been covering her excuses so far, but she was sure at least the medic knew her arm was more than ok by now. Maybe she should behave better in the red mech's lab if she didn't want to be exposed.

"How are we feeling today, little brat?", Starscream purred.

Fave took a deep breath and sighed dramatically but Knockout answered the commander on her behalf. "She is fine, says her medic. Her arm is completely fit for duty, so you can take her for a nice looong flight." She glared daggers at him for the back-stabbing, but he only sneered in return. She wouldn't behave at all!

"Actually, I'm here because Soundwave has summoned her. And since he is not a patient mech and she cannot fly yet…" He seized her from her shelter before she could hide, … "I will have to drag her to him."

"You have to stop doing this!" Even if she huffed in disapproval, Fave was glad for another lesson from Soundwave as it had become clear quickly, to her surprise, that he was a thorough and patient although challenging teacher. Her broken arm has hindered her from fighting or flying lessons, but not from just standing beside the silent mech on his console while he was doing both: attending to his duties and teaching her the meaning of having the ability to access cybersystems and she on the other hand has pleased the mech for being a quick study. The first thing he taught her was to communicate with him mutely, so they wouldn't bother anyone around.

"So, why are we avoiding our first flight?"

The question took her off guard. One, because she has already started to recall her previous lessons with Soundwave and two, because she hasn't expected the silver seeker to know about her little… charade.

"You… Why didn't you just…, well, _drag_ me out of sick bay and forced me into flight lessons if you knew?"

"I have my reasons", he made her bounce ridiculously on his servo on purpose while he approached the science lab of their own ship where Soundwave was working whenever not being on the bridge. "You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't tell me about your, or better now, Knockout's so called 'theory'."

"That is different", Starscream shuddered for some reason and averted her attention back on the matter at hand, "Now, answer your commanding officer!"

Fave sighed. "Honestly?... I don't know", she admitted after some hesitation. She tried to explain further but she couldn't come up with a good explanation, so she remained silent.

Starscream nodded unnoticeably. His hunch has been right then. "I will have you know, you will not be spared for much longer. Lord Megatron wants you to master at least the basics of flying before you can even think about combat training with him."

"You mean, before I get beaten by him? I somehow doubt lord Megatron has forgotten about punishing me for returning to the other vessel regardless of his orders… or the outcome. Surly he will conceal my… demise as a miscarried first training session."

"I don't know anything about our master's intentions", Starscream said, but sneered, "though I guess there may be some truth in your assumptions."

"Geez, thanks. Now that is a comfort."

"I wasn't intending to comfort, but I am glad to be of service", he bowed lightly with a grin, but it was much different from the obviously offending tone from before he has gotten sick.

"With you as my mentor, I don't think I will survive my first flight, so we will spare our master the mess of killing me", she mused.

"On the contrary", the seeker answered, completely serious, "I assure you that you miss quite an experience. I know what I am talking about."

They entered the science lab where Soundwave was working already.

' _Are you ever not working_?', she greeted the silent mech, hopping off Starscream's servo and asking if he will come for her after lessons as well.

"No. You will have to go back on your own tiny peds. Flying would be so much easier and faster of course."

She made a grimace. "Point taken."

The seeker left them, but not without providing her with a very telling gaze.

oooooooooooooooooooo

She finally reached sick bay after what felt like a very long hike. She could swear the science lab had been chosen as the most distant location from sick bay on purpose only to prove to her how much more beneficial it would be to fly from one point to another. She huffed and made the doors open before her but only to jump out of the way with a shriek, when a tool or whatever it was almost hit her on the spot. She got up quickly, observed the scene inside sick bay, and almost burst into laughter.

Knockout and Breakdown were lashing out wildly, shrieking and making a mess out of the lab. She knew what has caused the panic right away when she spotted her 'no longer a secret' swirling around the mechs gracefully. She hissed, when Breakdown raised his hammer, aiming at the little Scraplet but hit Knockout in the chest plates instead, crashing the poor mech against the closest wall.

"SPARKS! Come here, right now!", Fave cried out before the place could turn into a scrap heap.

The Scraplet turned his attention to her immediately and rushed to her side, happily snuggling to her leg and blinking with his still scratched eye innocently.

"WHAT?" Knockout hollered, clenching his servo tightly to his chest while Breakdown now aimed his hammer in her direction, both mechs with scared and at the same time furious optics.

"You got seconds to explain!", Breakdown groaned breathless although menacing, "And I better like the explanation or so help me…"

She tried to remain calm in order to show them everything was fine. "Relax, guys. He didn't attack you, did he?" She looked down to her little appendage with a scolding expression. "I told him to stay hidden, but I guess he became hungry after all…"

What a mistake in choosing those words, she thought when Knockout almost exploded. "HUNGRY?! Fave, what has gotten into you? I thought your own experience taught you better judgement than bringing a SCRAPLET to this ship!"

"I did nothing of the sort!", the woman defended herself, "I found him in sick bay, here, on this ship already, only hours after I returned to the Nemesis myself. He was weak and because he sort of helped me back on the other ship I decided to patch him up a bit. I told him very unambiguously not to attack any mech around here and so far, he didn't."

"You got to be kidding us, girl!", Breakdown snarled but transformed his hammer away, "You know, I got to like you for saving… our comrades, but this?! I agree with Knockout, you should have known better."

"And what`s with that name? Sparks! Really?", Knockout never left the parasite out of his sight but his question and his more relaxed frame was reassuring her a bit.

"I named him after a character from a video game I was playing when I was a child", she explained, "there was a dragon who always has been followed by a little golden dragonfly named Sparks and because this one", she looked down at her own little 'dragonfly' with a frown, "has been following me around since he first spotted me. Granted, he first thought about how to devour me, but that's not the point…" She made a pause before she piped up again with a sheepish voice, "Can I keep him?"

The medic and his assistant would have shown her how much she was NOT to keep him, when a COMM from Megatron reached sick bay.

"Fave, report to the bridge, at once. You will accompany me to a little field trip."

"I'm on my way." She answered quickly, then glanced at the mechs with hopeful eyes. There was no way to explain why Knockout didn't squish the Scraplet right away but took a small glass cube instead and trapped her so called dragonfly inside it. The tiny creature looked scared but allowed the treatment without attacking the red mech and Fave knew that was the best thing that could have happened at the moment.

"Thank you!" she said with relief in her optics and left sick bay again in order to rush to the bridge.

"She is twisting us around her tiny little digit already", Breakdown stated, looking to Knockout with a grin, "I don't doubt your theory anymore, Doc, even if it seems to be too far-fetched to be believable. But it has been quite a while since I had to deal with something like her."

"No one had to since Cybertron went dark", the red medic replied with the glass container still in his servo. "But now we all have to and, you know, from my point of view? That's just asking for trouble."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave felt awkward to return to earth after she almost died there by human hands but for whatever reason the warlord's presence was soothing her effectively. On the Nemesis, he was ignoring her most of the time but whenever he showed up, she felt her spark trembling happily. It was ridiculous, considering who he was, but she couldn't help herself. Well, she wouldn't tell anyone about it either!

She looked around the energon mine which was making quite an impression on her. It has been a mine like this where she has met Megatron for the first time, but it has been abandoned and depleted, nothing like this deposit where there were huge raw energon crystals everywhere! It was amazing!

She followed the warlord while he was inspecting the workers and the mining progress personally, but she had to run in order to keep up. "My lord, this is awesome! Does every energon mine look like this one?"

"No", Megatron answered, turning his attention to the human, "but it is the one showing the most typical characteristics of an energon mine."

Fave came to a stop in front of him, astonished. "So, you want me to see what a typical mine look like? In order to…", she thought about it for a moment, "in order to identify one in the field!"

"Indeed. I told you that I would provide you with guidance and I meant it. I take the view that it is best to learn by participating. Learning by doing, isn't that a human concept as well?" She looked a little puzzled but nodded nevertheless so the hulking mech continued.

"You will be assigned to surveillance duty along with Soundwave and under his supervision of course for he informed me, that you do quite well handling the cybersystems of my ship. That is a high praise coming from someone like him. But that will only be a part of your duties. I want you to do far more and thus learning faster."

She looked up at him expectantly, so he waved his servo vaguely around the cave.

"You do understand what energon means to us?"

She followed his gesture and nodded. "Since it flows through my own veins now, yes, my lord. It means quite everything. Our energon resources are limited. That's why we have to scout for new deposits on a regular basis."

"Good", the warlord nodded his assent, "you will learn how to scout for energon together with the best energon seeker I know. I am reluctant to admit it, but Starscream is quite good at discovering new deposits and I want you to learn from the best. That would require improving your flying skills, though." Megatron looked down at her, making Fave shrink under his glance of disapproval, "something I heard you are avoiding."

Although she felt ashamed, she managed to deter herself from looking to the ground, locking eyes to optics with the warlord instead. "I can't tell you more than I have told Starscream already. I don't know why I…"

"AUTOBOTS!"

The sound of blaster fire echoed in the cave, startling her, making the miners stop in their work and Megatron turn around to the tunnel through which they have entered the mine. The blaster fire ceased abruptly after there have been a few punching noises. Then, one of the Vehicon guards was thrown out of the tunnel and hit the ground at the peds of the warlord, missing the human barely who had to jump out of the way for the second time today.

Fave has expected one of the Autobots she has encountered in the desert already but this one was unknown to her. He was red and white, and his eyes were glowing brightly green. Though, this one obviously lacked any common sense by storming the Decepticon mine all by himself. Nevertheless, this unexpected proceeding took them all off guard, especially when the mech rushed directly at Megatron, hollering and punching him hard in the faceplates. The warlord was thrown away quite a distance.

"My, my, what have we here?" the red mech chuckled, "so much raw energon. It would be unpolite not to share it, don't you think, Megatron? On the other hand, it seems that I have found a much better energy source." He waved his servos challengingly as if preparing to fight them all on his own.

If the crazy mech would have attacked the warlord again, and he obviously intended to do so, he would have been torn to pieces by Megatron who jumped to his peds immediately, growling deeply at his enemy. "So be it!"

But the red mech got distracted. He stared down at a human, a young woman, standing closely to him with shock written on her face. Bright blue optics! That must be the human his team has seen in the desert while investigating Megatron's distorted life signal. But what have they done to her!? She must be scared out of her mind, the red mech thought and thus got to his senses enough to change his tactic. It took only a blink of an eye: He lashed forward, grabbed the human who cried out in surprise and reached to his COMM all at once. "Ratchet to base. Open an emergency ground bridge to my coordinates, NOW!"

Fave squealed loudly for the red mech squeezed her in his servo as if not being able to control his own strength. She saw Megatron storming forward, roaring enraged and shouting at the Vehicons to finish the Autobot, when a ground bridge opened behind her captor. The Autobot, finally realizing the superiority he was facing, didn't waste any more time, jumped back and disappeared together with the human only a second before Megatron could get his servos on him.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"We have been looking all over for you!", Arcee scolded their medic angrily, "what have you been thinking, Ratchet? Thought, you could just sneak in an active energon mine filled with Decepticons and, on top of that, snuff Megatron's spark all on your own?"

Ratchet looked to the side, avoiding the gazes of his friends but couldn't come up with an answer when Optimus rumbled deeply.

"Ratchet, we all understand your actions were based upon the use of unstable synthetic energon which obviously is not ready to be used as an alternate energy source on ourselves, so I don't see the point of blaming you for more than your scientific ambitions. We all know you only wanted to help us, to help the cause but you almost ended up making us loose our medic and most trusted friend." Optimus placed a servo on the doctor's shoulder plating. "I am glad you retreated in time so that you have not been hurt, old friend."

"I was a fool", Ratchet admitted without hesitation, "clearly the synthetic energon requires further research. But, fortunately, the situation has also offered an unexpected opportunity."

All of them followed the medic's gaze to the human on top of their working station where the kids often watch TV. She was pacing back and forth in front of the monitors of the Autobot base with her back turned on them, so they couldn't see her glowing eyes while trying to investigate their systems on the surface quickly. It has been the first thing on her mind after recovering from the tight grip Ratchet has been transporting her in through the ground bridge. Her body was still aching a bit, making her walk with a slight stoop and with one hand pressed on her ribs. She cut off the cyberlink immediately though, when she heard the whole lot of the Autobots approach her, the medic first in line.

"I want to apologize," he murmured, "I should have controlled myself rather than squeeze you the way I did. Especially as a medic, I don't know what has gotten into me. I could have killed you if not for your remarkable resilience. I… Are you feeling better now?"

She looked them all over, trying to assess their intentions, her surroundings and what she should do next. Her options were quite limited though and the Bots didn't look like ready to hurt her for any reason.

"I'm fine", she said cautiously, trying to straighten herself, "I am tougher than I look. Well, as of late."

Optimus hummed lightly. "Obviously you have been through a lot while you have been held hostage by the Decepticons. Would it be possible for you to tell us what exactly happened to you?"

She stared at him with confusion but not because of his question. It has been clear to her right away that they believed her to be a victim of some cruel experiments or torture on the side of the Decepticons. No, it was this one Bot in particular who suddenly triggered the appearance of pictures in her mind, memories long past and ambivalent feelings. She shook her head, confused.

"You are different from the others", she dared to state with a frown. The Autobots looked at each other with telling gazes but the huge red mech only nodded. "I am surprised you noticed but on the other hand I shouldn't be maybe. We still don't know what happened to you, but I can assure you this: you are safe here with us. No one will harm you in any way."

She had to prevent herself from turning her gaze to Ratchet accusingly but frowned at the red mech with mistrust nevertheless. "What do you want from me?"

"Only to keep you safe", the obvious leader answered right away, "and information, if you are willing to share them with us. You have been captured by our enemies, by Decepticons, who try to conquer and enslave your world. We are here to prevent that from happening."

He looked to his comrades and shut his optics for a moment before he onlined them again. "But maybe we should have started this conversation another way." He looked over to the no-longer-such-a-crazy mech, "you already got to know Ratchet, our medic. He never meant to inflict any pain on you but under the influence of broken synthetic energon, he simply wasn't able to control his strength. That won't happen again." After the red mech introduced the doctor, he gestured to the other Autobots in order. "You may remember Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead as well. They were there in the desert the first time we spotted you in the hands of Megatron, the Decepticon leader who took you to his ship. As for me, I am Optimus Prime."

A shiver ran down her spine. The name sounded powerful on its own even without the intimidating appearance and aura of the red mech. Fave had to focus greatly in order to avoid a flood of new memories and emotions. She relaxed nevertheless for the expression on the Prime's faceplates was convincingly genuine and reassuring. She blinked once then took a deep breath. "I am Fave. But, as for your questions" … she looked to the ground as if trying to think about something thoroughly, "I… cannot tell you anything about my captivity."

"Why not?", the medic asked confused, "you surly must remember anything!"

She looked around with an unhappy and unsecure face, trying to look miserable and lost. It worked.

"Maybe we should just give her some time to rest and to gather herself", Arcee proposed, "after all, she has been a hostage on the Nemesis for quite some time. Let her calm down and get used to us. The kids may help her to feel safe as well." The blue femme peeked over her shoulder, "It's not like Miko isn't ears dropping on us the whole time already."

"Urgh, how did you know! Anyway! We couldn't stay away forever you know!?" The voice of a girl echoed through the main room of the base. She appeared from around a corner, two boys in tow. The girl was the first to jump up the stairs and reach the new human in base who backed away from the tornado of questions while the girl started to circle her like a lion its prey. "Wow! Your eyes! They're amazing! I'm Miko by the way! Do you have any superpower? Can you run faster than any human? Do you see energon as food? Do you…"

Fave stared at her dumbfounded, while the other boys reached their place in a much calmer fashion. If she didn't believe she was safe with the Autobots before, she surly believed it now.

"You… sure have a lot of questions." Fave frowned at the children. One of the boys, a taller one tried to shove Miko away to offer Fave a little space. "Didn't you heard what Arcee just said, Miko? She shall rest, not be interrogated. I'm sorry. I'm Jack."

"And I'm Raf!", the youngest boy piped up. Fave looked at him a little closer for a few moments, then asked out of the blue, almost whispering: "How old are you, Raf?"

Rafael was surprised by the question, but answered her proudly. "Twelve. And a half!"

Twelve. Her little sister would have been nine or ten, if she was still alive, almost as old as Raf. The thought triggered a sad feeling inside her chest.

She must have expressed her memories on her face as well because the yellow mech, Bumblebee, whirled and asked if she has any family they could contact on her behalf. The youngest boy prepared to translate but the woman answered right away. "No. Thanks for the offer. But I am alone."

The atmosphere turned heavy. The young woman obviously was terribly depressed for some reasons, so no one bothered to wonder how it was possible for her to understand Bumblebee. Instead, Raf took her hand and smiled up at her. "Well, you are not anymore! The Autobots are the good guys and we aren't as bad as Miko might make you suggest."

"Hey!" the girl wanted to complain but even she knew when to act a little more sensitive. "Ok. Raf is right, you will be just fine. Maybe you can even have your own Bot like we do! Well, I think Optimus is out of the question, but Ratchet is still free!"

"I… don't understand", Fave only managed a puzzled face while the medic in question huffed.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave felt similar to when she has been left behind by Megatron in the abandoned energon mine the first time. It felt wrong not to be close to the warlord, as crazy as it might sound. Were they looking for her? What if they actually found her and the Autobot base?

All of the Autobots were very kind toward her, as well were the children. She learned about their relations to their Bots, their guardians, their friends. She has been told everything the kids knew about their cybertronian comrades, about their history, how they got to know them, their fight against the Decepticons. Fave, on the other hand, didn't tell them anything about herself except for her name but no one pushed her to do so anyway.

For now.

Whenever she deemed it to be safe, she accessed their systems but though they were less complicated than those of the Nemesis, because they were based on human technology, she didn't have enough training yet to gain any advantage by using them, yet alone to infiltrate them. The only thing she could see clearly was the ground bridge control. She would be able to leave the base whenever she wanted but this opportunity was too important for her to just let it pass. The Decepticons never hid their intentions regarding earth or humanity but to see the conflict between the two cybertronian factions from another perspective…

The Autobots truly differed from the Decepticons, both in their credo and their manner. There have not been many occasions yet, of course, but Megatron never hid her from danger or handled her with kid gloves. No one on the Nemesis actually bothered to watch his steps or to carry her around if not necessary. The Autobots on the other hand always watched their human counterparts whom they considered their friends, family even.

"What do you mean, Bumblebee?", Raf asked his guardian while working on something that looked like a volcano of sort, "you just told me a whole bunch of your adventures and I have seen you in action myself! You're awesome! How is it, that you are still a scout and not a warrior?"

The yellow mech wanted to answer the boy but it was Optimus who did so instead. "Bumblebee is the best scout we ever had. However, in our terms, he is still a very young Autobot who still needs a lot of field experience and guidance." The Prime put a servo on the young mechs shoulder plating. "But he is on the right track of becoming a remarkable warrior."

Shortly after, the Prime left with Bumblebee for a mission. The ground bridge barely closed behind them, when Arcee piped up amused. "Well, Bumblebee will stay a youngling much longer than any of us."

"What do you mean by that?", Miko stopped in her work on what appeared to be a model of the earth's solar system.

Arcee frowned. "Optimus tries to treat him like anyone of us and he does so quite well, mostly, but that is not easy considering his special relationship with Bumblebee."

"I don't understand", Raf piped up, "Bumblebee never told me anything about it."

Bulkhead joined the conversation with a smirk. "Ha! Because he doesn't want to be treated differently. Sometimes though, on rare occasions, it becomes quite obvious that he is the sparkling of Optimus Prime."

In that moment, Fave pricked up her ears and turned away from what Ratchet was doing on the base's working station, as did the medic.

"WHAT!" came the simultaneous reaction from all the children and it was Jack who asked for further explanation. "Do you actually mean that Optimus is sort of Bumblebees dad? I thought, you guys do not have parents like we do. Didn't you once tell me you have… eh… what was it again?"

"Primus is our creator," Ratchet explained, "he is… was the only one able to bear new life back on Cybertron. However, there was one other way but it took Primus's approval nevertheless. Sometimes, one of our kind wished for a sparkling, as in an **own** sparkling. Therefore, the one who sought to take that kind of responsibility needed to share, to split off a part of his own spark on the Well of Allsparks. If Primus agreed, a new Cybertronian was … born, to put it in your words. That was a great honor. Not everyone's wish for a sparkling has been granted but there were not many of us who wished for one to begin with. It is, after all, a great responsibility. Optimus however, seeing the end of our home world coming, did asked Primus for one last sparkling as a symbol of hope, before our planet's core shut down. Bumblebee was the last one being created like this since Cybertron went dark eventually."

Fave's head was spinning. She has seen her own spark readings in the Nemesis's sick bay while being treated by Knockout. The bare thought was crazy!

"Why aren't your systems displaying Optimus's life signal twice then?", Fave asked cautiously. "Obviously Bumblebee has a signal of his own."

"Because Bumblebee is not a clone!", Ratchet retorted, "He is an autonomous being like everyone else here. The life signals would be doubled only at the beginning, but it doesn't take much time to separate into two different signatures."

"I see."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave has been a guest to the Autobots for a few days when a situation arose suddenly in form of a distress call from Bumblebee. The Bots gathered immediately in front of the main station of operation, alongside Ratchet and the children.

"Bumblebee, what happened?" the Prime asked his scout with a concerned voice but the yellow mech only was able to spit one word, MECH, before he didn't answer anymore.

"Ratchet! Open a ground bridge to Bumblebee's coordinates and prepare sick bay. Autobots! Transform and roll out!"

They were gone in a blink of an eye, leaving behind the children concerned and Fave confused. "MECH? What is that? What is going on?"

"MECH is the human equivalent to our Decepticons", Ratchet informed her, clenching his servos, "they are obsessed with getting their hands on the best and most advanced technology, but I never expected them to attack us this directly, this boldly and this soon! The last time we encountered them, they almost made a sensitive devise detonate which would have caused many casualties, including the lives of Miko and Jack. They are most reckless, and I don't want to imagine what they could have done to Bumblebee."

"They actually tried to kill Miko and Jack? But, they are only children!" The 'children' huffed angrily, but they were ignored by both, Bot and human alike.

"In cold blood, yes, if Optimus wouldn't have succeeded to rescue them in the nick of time. Wait!... What?!"

The ground bridge activated as if by magic and Fave didn't hesitate to run through it, leaving the medic and the children dumbfounded. "Do we have another Miko around here all of the sudden! Rafael! Don't tell me you opened that ground bridge for her?!"

"No!" the boy answered startled, "it wasn't me!"

"Nor us", Jack clarified before Ratchet could shout at them as well.

The medic turned to his working station, checking the systems over. "I don't understand. The ground bridge clearly has been activated from inside the base, yet I cannot find out from where exactly." He blinked several times. "What is going on?"

oooooooooooooooooooo

The same moment Fave left the ground bridge, she found herself in crossfire between the Autobots and what appeared to be those MECH guys, surrounding them in a multitude of vehicles, both grounded and airborne. She did not know what exactly has triggered the rage that has made her run after the Autobots without second thoughts and she didn't have time to think about it now while looking for cover. She was not aware that she had been spotted right after she has appeared on the scenery.

"What was that?" Silas asked the pilot of the helicopter with utmost curiosity. "That swirl… and who is that? Magnify!"

The pilot did what he has been asked and zoomed in on a woman with glowing blue eyes. "Well, if this is not interesting..." Silas grabbed the helicopter's COMM, "Soldiers! Regroup! You have a new target…"

"Fave! What are you doing here?" Optimus looked everything but pleased due to her appearance. "Get back to base, now!"

Their enemies stopped their assault only to start another one on the woman on sight. Fave was not able to flee but Bumblebee, who seemed to be ok, got to her in time, covering her frame in his servos.

"Retreat!" Optimus ordered with a frown due to MECH's new strategy. "Ratchet, open the ground bridge!"

"NO!", Fave shouted angrily but no one was paying attention to her. She felt how Bumblebee moved through the ground bridge and the next second, she was back at base.

"What happened?" Ratchet and the children have been waiting right in front of the ground bridge for them, already looking them over for injuries, Bumblebee first in line after the yellow mech has let Fave slip to the ground.

"MECH was about to steal Bumblebee's t-cog", the Prime answered with narrowed optics while removing his mask and allowing the growling medic to examine him on the surface. "We came just in time to prevent MECH from succeeding in their attempt."

"But you left at the worst time possible!", Fave shouted at the hulking mech suddenly, "you let them escape! Now, they can prepare another assault against you! Against everyone! How could you just let them get away with this!"

They were all taken aback by her sudden outburst, but Optimus remained calm as always. "We do not inflict harm on humans until it becomes absolutely necessary, Fave", Optimus answered without raising his voice. "That is what differs us from the Decepticons as you should know. Have you already forgotten what Megatron did to your people back in the desert?"

"MY people!" she now hollered, paling and wondering when she became enraged to this state. "You do not know ANYTHING about those so-called PEOPLE! They were of the worst kind! Criminals! Torturers! Murderers! They were just SCUM and I am happy they are DEAD finally!"

She trembled out of shock and surprise over her own cruel words. She didn't recognize herself in this moment, but she couldn't hold back the fury. "Let me go! I want to leave right now!"

"I am afraid we cannot allow you to leave in your condition", the Prime stated with a sad expression on his faceplates by witnessing so much pain and suffering, "you are wrong to think we do not know about those human's loathsome crimes."

Fave simply couldn't listen anymore so she grabbed Miko, who has been standing right next to her, reaching out a hand and firing an energon blast into the space as a warning before placing her hand over the girl's chest.

They all but froze. No one dared to move and Fave was already regretting her rash move. Now, the element of surprise was gone! She had to leave, now, or maybe she wouldn't be able to do so any time soon. "Open a ground bridge, I don't care to what location, I simply want to leave!"

"Let her go, and we will talk about it in a civilized way", Bulkhead said, obviously worrying out of his mind, when seeing how much Miko was struggling in the woman's tight grip.

"If we open a ground bridge, would you let Miko go unharmed?", the Prime asked in an attempt to deescalate the situation. When Fave nodded firmly, the red mech turned to his medic with a telling gaze. "Do it."

Fave was not stupid though. When the green swirl appeared behind her, she accessed the ground bridge controls and changed the coordinates of the destination point, placing a simple virtual scrambling node at the same time that would delete the coordinates after she has been gone.

"Her eyes!" Arcee cried out but they didn't know what to make of it as Fave whispered a "sorry" and pushed Miko away from her hard, making the girl dashing to the ground. She then all but rushed through the ground bridge, noticing that the Autobots tried to follow her but she destabilized the swirl quickly enough to escape their reach without harming them at the same time.

She was gone.

oooooooooooooooooooo

She looked around and found herself standing on a high rock formation, surrounded by impressive canyons, panting heavily. Wherever she looked, there was a deep canyon in any direction! Great! She always wanted to see the Grand Canyon but by choosing those particular coordinates, she has trapped herself effectively. She wouldn't be able to climb down these formations. They were too steep and too deep to risk a fall even with her newfound abilities.

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself down. What she just did was foolish, and she couldn't even explain what has provoked these actions. She didn't want to think about it. She only wished to get back to the Nemesis, so she focused, trying to reach Soundwave but she didn't know how to do so. While she has been in the Autobot base, something has been scrambling every signal she has tried to send through the old silo but right now she should have had a clear reception. Could they be too far away for her to reach them?

It was Soundwave though who found her instead suddenly, making her cheer because of the mech's presence. ' _Soundwave! I have just left the Autobot base! Where are you guys_?'

The silent mech didn't answer but established a COMM to their ship's bridge. She waited patiently for Megatron to question her.

"Fave. Report!", the warlord simply ordered.

"My lord, I just left the Autobot's base", she repeated what she has told Soundwave already, "I must confess though, that I put myself into a somewhat difficult situation. I'm surrounded by canyons which I cannot pass."

"Are there any Autobots with you?"  
"No. I scrambled the coordinates I used so they wouldn't be able to follow me."

The warlord hummed lightly. "I am impressed. Have you been able to locate their base as well?"

A very long pause followed but in the end, Fave couldn't refused to answer any longer. "No, my lord. I am sorry, but I couldn't find out anything about their location. My abilities aren't this advanced yet."

"I see…"

After there has been another long silence, Fave piped up again. "I could really use that ground bridge right now."

"Of course,", Megatron answered but only seconds later, Fave winced when hearing a smashing sound through the COMM. "What was that?!" Fave asked with her hands covering her ringing ears.

"Well, it seems there is something wrong with our ground bridge systems", the warlord answered her with a so much obvious sneer, that it didn't take long for Fave to understand what truly happened.

"You crushed ground bridge controls!?", she cried out, "On purpose?!"

The warlord ignored her angry comment and pretended to be concerned. "How unfortunate! It seems like it would take some time to fix the problem. Soundwave will work on it immediately. You, however, will have to return to the ship on your own. We will have an open COMM to you so that you can find us."

"What? Wait! How am I supposed to reach you!" she shouted angrily, "is the ship grounded as of late?"

"No", was the simple, amused answer, "it is not. I am awaiting you." The warlord intended to deactivate his personal COMM but before he could do so, the woman's voice pierced through.

"Aaaaarg! Megatron! YOU BASTARD!"

The mechs on the bridge besides Megatron froze, pretending nothing happened of course, while the holler echoed in their audials. They were expecting an outburst of rage though, but the warlord surprised them all with a deep and amused chuckle.

"Yes. Hm hm hm. That's the spirit!"

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave was pacing back and forth again and raising dust that way for over an hour now. She missed the warm and fuzzy treatment of the Autobots already! They never would have left her in the middle of nowhere to teach her a lesson! And what lesson! The warlord's patience obviously has run low. He wasn't angry for her not having been able to locate the Autobot's base, that much she knew! He wanted her to fly already! No pickups, no waiting for her to appear, no carrying her around. He wanted her to fly and he wanted her to do so now!

She kicked a stone hard and furiously and watched it roll over the ledge. A long fall followed. How was she supposed to even overcome the canyons, yet alone to speed off to the sky!? She would kill herself!

"I didn't have a single flight lesson, yet!" she growled, her body shaking in anger. She didn't know why she was so angry in the first place. For being left alone again? Was she truly angry at all? Or was it something else completely?

She let herself sink to the ground, her arms crossed and her eyes closed tightly. What was making her feel so disturbed? So angry? So out of place? So confused? She breathed loudly to stay calm. Whenever she has been in a situation like this, her parents always gave her their best advice, but she couldn't ask them for advice any longer. Sure, one could think that she has managed five years without them, surviving worse than hell. It was different though. The prospect of reunite with them one day has always been comforting her, making the ordeal bearable. Now, she knew she was alone. She couldn't go back to the life she knew. Has she been wishing to return home so badly, even after discovering the fate of her family?

Fave stood, feeling a light breeze messing up her hair. She stared into the distance, the unknown future, then turned around as if her past lay there somewhere. She never considered herself to be afraid of changes, of making decisions but right now, she felt insecurity rise within her. Who wouldn't be insecure? Not only has she been abducted for more than five years, which changed her deeply, but her body has been altered by alien intruders which changed her physically as well. She has been revived with a spark, lost her family, lost any stability in her life.

She wasn't afraid of flying, she realized suddenly. It was just the occasion that gave her fears space. In her life, whenever there have been changes, she never has been alone. She could always count on her small family's support. She has known where she belonged. She has known where to turn if trouble arose.

She walked to the ledge of the canyon and looked into the depths. She missed them. She missed them so much that it hurt right now more than during the past few days. She has been busy with Soundwave's lessons, with getting used to the Decepticons around her, with infiltrating an alien vessel and with trying to understand what has happened to her, so she has repressed the grief. She felt tears welling up in her eyes.

She closed her eyes again, feeling another cold breeze coming from deep down the canyon and drying the tears on her cheeks. If they were here, what would they do? That would they say? She knew them good enough, she should know. Fave remembered many occasions where she has found comfort and guidance due to her parent's advice. She could almost see her father's reassuring grin and her mother's encouraging smile. She knew, they would tell her to simply move on, to not be afraid, to take things as they came. She didn't know what was to come and the situation was everything but easy, but she knew that, if she wanted to move on, she had to let go of the grief and the sorrow. She wouldn't be able to free herself of the guilt she felt for their deaths any time soon, but she knew she had to make the first step. The first step without them. The first step on her own.

She took a deep breath again, as she always did before doing something that scared her. She spread her arms, transformed and allowed herself to fall off the ledge.

She could see the ground coming closer alarmingly fast and let her instincts take over. She felt a powerful sparkbeat, a burst of energy inside her chest which provided her with the means to slow down her descend. This way, she should be able to land unharmed but as she intended to do so, already proud to manage that much, a silver shape passed her in a flash. It was Starscream in his jet mode. He must have been waiting close by the whole time!

"Give it a shot, Fave! You can do more than just slow down the fall. Thrust! Come on! That's an order!"

She nodded and closed her eyes. Yes, she knew how to do it! Before she could hit the ground, she felt moving in a sharp angle and speeding off to the sky, faster than before. She left the canyon together with Starscream and rose higher and higher when a sudden cry of joy pierced through the air.

"Funny. That was my first reaction, too, after I finally decided to jump at long last." Starscream chuckled but Fave could barely hear him. She threw all caution to the winds, literally! Nothing could describe the sensation of joy she felt right now! She let go of her grieve for the time being and she let go of the anger as well. She felt like leaving everything that scared and bothered her in any way on the ground! She felt free!

She performed a loop and allowed herself to fall again, Starscream in pursuit. "Don't get cocky!" the seeker cried but his tone was betraying his order. Fave laughed out loud from the bottom of her spark which was a sound the Decepticon heard from her for the very first time. He followed the human back through the canyons, where she rushed through the rock formations in an attempt to throw off the seeker.

"Nice try", he mused and increased speed, "but you can't really believe you can hide from **me**! I am the fastest flyer among the Deceptic…! Hey! Watch out!" He caught up with her just in time, shoving her out of the way hard before she could crush into a rock wall. Fave stopped midair and looked a little shocked but grinned shortly after nevertheless, speeding off to the sky again. Starscream recalled his own first flight so long ago and would have shook his head if being in his robot mode in disbelief. He never thought that he would once be in his mentor's place but, surprisingly, he was enjoying the fact that Fave was behaving like a real youngling for the first time.

"Try to catch up if you can", he challenged her, eliciting another cheerful shout from the human. He pushed his thrusters only a little more, not even close to his whole potential of course, but enough to take the lead. Fave followed as fast as she could, enjoying the wind on her face and the height and the view it offered regardless of her trembling shape. It was getting quite cold and it got even worse when they rushed through a bunch of clouds, but she didn't care. Nothing could spoil the moment right now!

Right after they left the clouds the Nemesis came in sight. "You have been waiting here all the time after locating me?" she tried to say in disbelief, but her teeth were chattering too much, thus the seeker couldn't understand her. When they reached the Nemesis right above the flight deck, Starscream transformed midair, performing a flip, and landed on the ship gracefully with a loud impact. Fave, intending to imitate the landing, transformed as well but a suddenly rising wind blew her off course and she landed on her front side very **un** gracefully. She heard the seeker laugh.

"We will have to work on that", he chuckled, "none of my students shall make a fool of himself, not on my watch!"

"Sure thing", she managed to say though her body was trembling violently now. She couldn't think of a situation where she has ever been colder than right now. Regardless, she felt overwhelmed and the feeling only multiplied when she spotted Megatron at the end of the flight deck. She pushed herself up and would have run to the warlord, truly making a fool of herself, if not for a small creature bumping into her first and throwing her off her feet again. It was a little golden ball with bright purple eyes, without any signs of a scratch on his face.

"Sparks?" she laughed out loud, "Knockout actually looked up the origin of your name! Did he paint you? I can't believe it!"

"Neither did I, when I spotted the parasite in sick bay", Megatron addressed her with a dark stare, not even mentioning her first flight or the superb crash landing in any way, "You should be grateful to Knockout because he convinced me that having a Scraplet to use as a lab rat if necessary could prove to be an advantage. I strongly advise you to watch the little pest closely, though. One single bite, and he will be scrapped, and you will have to answer me personally for any damage it might have caused until then. Is that understood?"

She nodded, holding her 'dragonfly' close to her spark, and following the Decepticon leader and his second inside the ship but not without turning around to take a peek at the limitless sky.

Could she allow herself…, could she dare to believe, that she wasn't alone after all?


	7. A face

Soundwave was intrigued. Not only has the human obviously found out about or was at least suspecting the nature of what has changed her physical form, but she also managed to hide her research from him for quite some time. Now, the silent mech followed the stream of information Fave was trying to grasp while walking straight to the science lab she was researching in. Right now, she was turning the database upside down in an attempt to find out more about Primus and the creation of cybertronian life. She seemed to have searched everything in order to get an extensive picture: historical records, scientific entries, literature even. Right now though, she was taking a break to study a visual file.

Soundwave reached the lab. He knew the woman was aware of being observed by him, so she wasn't startled at all when the silent mech entered. She did not even turn away from the monitor which was displaying a breathtaking picture of Cybertron.

Of a living Cybertron.

Soundwave joined her at the console and waited, staring at his home planet himself. He remembered it vividly as if it had been only yesterday. The glorious buildings, the infrastructure, the technology, the landscapes like the sea of rust, the impressive capitols Kaon and Iacon, the Well of Allsparks. He remembered his brethren in a time when he had not need to distinguish Autobot from Decepticon, but he also recalled the high council, the social problems such as the inequality among the classes and the corruption. He remembered being one of the lower-class Bots, meeting Megatron and being utterly consumed by the gladiator's visions. Then, the conflict escalated, the war began and with it came the destruction of his home. The moment their planet's core shut down eventually, not being able to bear any more fighting…

Soundwave shut down the image abruptly, almost angrily, and replaced it with one showing the current state of Cybertron, reminding him harshly of the present. Fave took a moment, not interrupting the silence for a while. There were emotions she had to deal with as well but those were originated by memories and feelings which were not her own. Soundwave on the other hand…

She turned around eventually to look at the silent mech.

 _'_ _Is that why you do not speak?'_ she asked softly.

Again, Soundwave found himself fascinated by the human's intelligence. Or intuition. Whatever it was, it was good. He nodded.

 _'_ _Indeed. The day Cybertron went dark I made the vow of silence. I vowed not to speak or make any other sound by using my own voice until the day Cybertron will power up again._ '

Fave looked up at him in surprise. ' _So, there IS a way to revive Cybertron? I did not stumble upon any information pointing in that direction, to something that might be able to revive a whole planet. What is it? What can bring Cybertron back to live?'_ , she asked excitedly.

 _'_ _Unknown,'_ Soundwave simply answered, surprising the woman again.

Soundwave truly did not know but that has not deterred him from making the vow nonetheless. It was the only thing the Decepticon was allowing himself to believe in. Their ancestors knew many secrets, they had much more advanced technology at their disposal than what he considered modern tech. There surely must be a way.

 _'_ _You have placed a subroutine while searching the database which has triggered a silent alarm',_ he explained, changing the uncomfortable subject _, 'It would have made the ship decloak if I had not fixed the problem. I even believed we had an intruder on board.'_

 _'_ _What?!'_ Fave paled and stuttered _: 'I…I did not realize…'_

 _'_ _You have been able to mask your presence in the cybersystem quite good, I give you credit for that. However, you only have begun to learn so you may cause serious damage if you continue to access the ship's systems without supervision. I need not be present at any time, but I need to see what you are doing if problems arise. Thus, I hereby forbid you to mask your presence in the cybersystems on this ship outside our lessons.'_

'Yes. _Understood,_ ' Fave swallowed hard, ' _Sorry, Wave!'_ she waited for the silent mech to continue but he obviously was done scolding her, so, looking at the monitor again, she asked instead: ' _Did you know?'_

The purple mech knew what she was talking about right away. ' _That you seem to be our lord's sparkling? Fave, everyone on the Nemesis knows'_ , Soundwave answered a little amused due to the woman's puzzled expression, ' _but no one talks about it in order to prevent themselves from being beaten to death by our leader. I advise you to do the same. Being… punished by our master is an experience everyone wishes to avoid. Except for Starscream as it seems.'_

 _'_ _The commander truly seems to be lord Megatron's favorite punching bag for some reason,_ ' Fave grimaced pitifully, ' _I wonder how he became second in command… But do not change the subject! How is it that I had to figure it out while everyone already knew from the beginning?'_

 _'_ _We didn't,'_ Soundwave responded, _'Not from the beginning. It was a theory which no one believed in. It still is a theory after all for something like this never happened before. You have been forced upon our master. He did not wish for a sparkling, especially not for a weak and pitiful human one.'_

Fave made a face and placed her hand over her spark dramatically. ' _Ouch.'_

Soundwave did not imply in any way that he did not mean it. After Fave has disappeared for days, taken by the Autobots, no one believed to see her again so soon, yet alone her trying to escape the enemy. She was a human after all. The Autobots were protecting humankind while the Decepticons were attempting to claim earth and its rich energon deposits for their own, regardless of any damage they might inflict upon humanity. Granted, as well as the Autobots, they try not to reveal themselves in order to prevent military steps on the side of the fleshlings. Humans may be small and weak but their weapons, especially if they decided to unite their forces, could cause serious damage to the Nemesis. But in the end, humankind will be conquered, there was no doubt about that. Fave knew that but she returned regardless. On her own!

 _'_ _I will now show you how you caused the alarm. Pay close attention so that this won't happen again.'_

Fave complied and focused on what Soundwave was showing her, wincing now and then when she realized her missteps earlier. Soundwave, while simultaneously explaining things, answered Fave's questions about Primus and Cybertron and many other things she has not been able to fully comprehend during her hidden research.

 _'_ _I want to go there, Wave! I want to see Cybertron with my own eyes!'_

Soundwave recalled how much he has been taken aback when the human invaded the cybersystems he has been in alone from the beginning of his function for the first time. With the vow of silence, it has been the first time he actually talked to someone since Cybertron shut down. He did not even realize back then, that he had talked to her until lord Megatron interfered. He wondered when did ' _Wave'_ start to enjoy their lessons… and their conversations.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Starscream almost died of laughter when seeing how Fave tried to land on a tree's branch for the umpteen time, missing and hitting every single branch other than the one she has attempted to reach on her way down until she hit the ground. After she has claimed that she always landed exactly where she intended to, a statement which the experienced seeker knew was a lie, he ordered her to land on a branch to prove her claims, not knowing how much it would brighten his day.

"Nope. You missed."

"You think?", came a painful groan from somewhere below a pile of leaves. It was dark already, but the seeker still was able to spot her easily due to her bright blue optics. Fave reappeared with a smirk, covered in small branches, leaves and dirt. She was wearing her battle dress for the first time which Knockout has constructed for her in order to make many things easier. In fact, they all were equipped with additional armor parts so why not her? It has been made from a dark silver material that was both, supple and robust and it kept her warm during flight. And because the doctor crafted it, it has not been enough to be only expedient of course, but it also had to look good. The seeker rolled his optics while remembering the pride with which the red mech has presented it to the impressed woman. It was one piece of tightly fitting material, covering almost the whole of her body, except for her hands, her feet and her head. Tightly fitting, knee-high, robust and silver boots with purple stripes on their sides fit perfectly to the as well purple protectors on her elbows and on her shoulders as well to the silver belt around her hip. A tiny silver earring on the tip of her right ear, serving her as a COMM link, rounded out the dress. The seeker wondered if the doctor chose those colors on purpose. Had their master seen the dress already?

"Good thing that I tamed my hair before leaving the Nemesis for a flight", she mused while trying to clean the dress on the surface so that Knockout would be less inclined to kill her, "If I didn't, I would have hung myself with them several times by now."

"I may be enjoying your hilarious attempts to improve your landing skills but in case you think this is only for my entertainment, you are wrong. Not only is it making a weak impression on a possible enemy, but it also endangers your life. If you got shot from the sky one day, and believe me you will when I begin to exercise attack and evasive maneuvers with you, you need to at least land properly to avoid further injuries or to hide from an attacker."

"I got it the first time you told me that, Starscream," she smirked, "I'm not doing this on purpose you know. It is much less fun than it may seem."

The silver seeker shook his helm, transformed and sped off again, followed by the young woman. He was circling this area with his student for quite some time now, playing hide and seek of sorts. As a matter of fact, she was good in hiding for she was small and flew very fast and precisely considering she only started to take flight lessons. She was talented but seeking things still seemed to be a problem. Or maybe he should reiterate some theoretical things about…

Fave stopped midair suddenly, just above a curious looking rock formation. The seeker stopped as well. Yes, he thought, it's getting warmer… "Is something wrong?" he asked innocently.

She pointed her hand in direction of the rocks. "Is that possibly an energon deposit?"

"You tell me."

She frowned at the seeker, then chuckled. "You knew it was here the whole time! And here I was beginning to wonder why we kept flying around China's mountains for hours now.

"And I was wondering what took you so long."

She laughed. She did that a lot lately, especially when flying with the seeker. "That is not fair, Starscream! It's dark, I barely can see my surroundings. And, if I see correctly, this is a very small deposit. You sure know of its location for much longer, but it would seem it's not even worth the time to mine here."

"You never have been in desperate need of energon, Fave. If you had been, you wouldn't say something like that so carelessly. But you are right. This deposit actually is too small to even bring the drilling inventory down here. But to know its location is an advantage nevertheless, just in case of emergency. It is also monitored in case the Autobots uncover it as well."

"Would you give me a moment?", the woman asked but she did not give the commander the opportunity to answer when she sped off to the ground. The seeker huffed angrily. Maybe he should again explain the chain of command to the human! However, he couldn't remember the last time he had the freedom to fly around this extensively. It reminded him of his time as the leader of the seeker armada back on Cybertron. How they have been admired for being the ones to find the much-needed energy sources and for their flying skills. Then the war came to him and to his seekers and he lost one after another, even Skywarp and Thundercracker. The Vehicons on the Nemesis were no seeker material at all. Too dumb and they were not enjoying flying the way Starscream and his former seekers did. Fave on the other hand…

…just came back from where the energon deposit was located with a small piece of energon in her tiny hand. Starscream frowned.

"Well, that should do the trick… for an hour or so."

She smirked. "I don't want to refine it. I want to keep it as a memory to my first energon discovery!"

"I don't know if that counts", the seeker retorted, "let's not forget I needed to push you for hours to spot the deposit."

"It counts", Fave decided and placed the energon shard in one of her belt's pockets, then looked up to the seeker mischievously. "Do we race back to the ship?"

"Of course we do", the commander said, glad he could hide his smirk while being in his jet mode, "you shall always be reminded that you are learning from the fastest seeker in the universe."

"Just you wait," she threatened, "one day, I will pass you in a flash."

"Not happening."

"and I will tell everyone that the student finally has surpassed his master!"

"Definitely not happening."

They pushed their thrusters, well, at least one of them did, and chased away. Of course, Starscream did not leave Fave far behind. She was still an amateur. Talented, but a beginner though and if she fell to the ground from this height, there wouldn't be much left of her and the less was left of her, the lesser would be left of him after his own master surpassed his beating skills. He recalled that he himself has not been allowed to fly alone at the beginning. Back on Cybertron, some recruits had disregarded that strict order and scrapped themselves. He had sneaked off himself a few times as well, like every young cadet of course, but he was the best flyer ever, even his mentor had admitted that once, AND he was kinda attached to his own life.

The silver seeker enjoyed the flight and even more the memories it triggered. It reminded him of better times and of his own skills. He has almost forgotten about them while being humiliated repeatedly under Megatron's command. He was a damn good seeker and the best flyer. Starscream felt a confidence he thought has been long gone. Hard to believe it took a human girl to remind him of that.

oooooooooooooooooooo

How was it possible, that Starscream and Soundwave alike kept briefing him on Fave's progress in dealing with cybersystems and during flight lessons on one hand and on the other she was failing him so miserably during combat training?

Megatron observed the woman seeking cover in order to prevent being hit by the blaster fire the Vehicon was so graciously gifting her with. The warlord was no idiot. He did not expect the most difficult maneuvers or her to kick the trooper's aft. Her task has been easy: to hit her attacker in the back once in order to pass to the next exercise. He wanted her to do so many times but right now, he would be surprised if she hit the Vehicon even once who seemed to have the time of his function right now. The training room was filled with debris, all potential hiding places. It should be easy to sneak from one spot to another, especially being as small as her, passing the Vehicon that way and hitting him. But every time she tried to do so, she either missed or exposed herself before she could even take aim.

"Enough!" Megatron hollered, "Get back to your station, soldier!"

The Vehicon bowed and rushed out of the room, undoubtedly intending to tell everyone about the 'training'.

"Fave! To me. Now!"

The miserable human peeked out from her hiding place before leaving it flying yet ducked as if she expected to be hit by Megatron himself. Gladly she has not been whining the whole training even after being hit several times during the exercises. She was tough. Even now, leaking energon from a multitude of minor injuries, she tried the best she could to hide she was in pain. The warlord liked that.

"Do you have an explanation for THIS?"

"I do…", she had to clear her throat", I do not, my lord."

Megatron was confused. He had expected her to perform better than what he just witnessed. He knew of her strong wish to defend herself, to be able to handle things on her own, and not to hide behind someone's back. He has seen her in action on the infected vessel, he knew what she was able to bear and what she was capable of, he knew there was potential! So, why does she perform so poorly even after several training sessions? At least the combat dress made by Knockout seemed to be indestructible.

"You disappoint me."

"I know, my lord", she answered, trying to speak up loud and clear instead of whispering frustrated, "I am sorry."

The hulking mech growled. "I do not want to hear apologies, I want progress! Next time you better be in better shape or so help me Primus, I will be the one shooting at you. Have I made myself clear?"

She nodded and waited for more… motivation to come, but Megatron was done obviously.

"You are dismissed. Get out of my sight!"

She made a face, turned around and left as fast as she dared.

Megatron remained in the training room which was a mess. He had to admit, he wasn't utterly disappointed for what he has feared the most during her trip to the Autobot's shelter did not occurred: She did not choose to stay with them. To keep her from the reach of his sworn enemies was the reason he had taken her to his ship in the first place. He still did not know enough about the nature of their bound rather than the rumors that already been spread. A sparkling! Ridiculous! And dangerous, if it proved to be the case. He wouldn't be able to kill her if necessary. He has not even been able to leave her in the desert to die on her own! She could be used as an effective shield against him and yet, that cursed bond has been most likely the reason why she returned. She couldn't be that stupid as not to realize the better place for her would have been to stay with the Autobots. Yet again, she escaped and above all: in a somewhat deceptive way.

Maybe I shall consider her as a valued advantage instead of fearing her to be my weak point, the warlord thought. She was an intelligent being and she knew about the Decepticon cause from their shared memories, from what she has been told and from what she has learned on her own so far. Regardless, she came back. However, the Decepticon leader wasn't convinced that to be her final decision. Did she truly wish to be here or was it only due to the bond beckoning her to him as it did him to her?

But why bother oneself with questions, that cannot be answered right now? He shall think of another line of training instead. The current one obviously wasn't working out the way he desired. But one thing was utterly clear: If she was to stay with the Decepticons, she was not allowed to be a burden in any way… or to bring shame upon him.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Knockout looked through his microscope and admitted to himself to be fascinated. Now that he knew more about human physiology, he realized how unique Fave's cells truly were. Right now, he was inspecting a small structure that seemed to be the source of her being able to transform.

"Like a tiny little t-cog in every cell. Insane!", the medic whispered and shook his helm. He looked over to a console, where Breakdown and Fave were playing a video game. What a sight that was as well! The hulking brute and a little human girl both holding a controller and running around in a virtual world as two so-called dragons. On top of that, Sparks was flying around the both of them while following his eponym on the screen excitedly. The medic would have joined them, but after he has fixed the woman who has returned from another training session with lord Megatron, something Knockout did not envy her for in the slightest, the scientist in him felt the urgent need to check some theories on the human's specific biology.

"Cynder, watch it!" Breakdown complained growling, "Roaar! Because of you that giant golem blew us into oblivion again! Can't you stay closer to me!?"

Fave had to hold tears of laughter. "Breakdown, we are chained to one another! Cynder cannot stay closer to Spyro than right now! We have to work as a team!"

Knockout did not even try to hide his amusement as he crossed his arms. Right after Fave came back from the training room, covered in her own energon, she took her small bottle and gulped almost half of the content at once, scowling like a bad-day-having Insecticon. So, the blue mech asked her if she wanted to shoot at something to ease the frustration. When seeing the game Breakdown and Knockout had secretly downloaded from the human's so-called internet, her face has brightened and after the medic wrapped her in several bandages, the distraction took place successfully. Now, the blue mech was more intrigued by the game than Fave was.

"Hey Sparks, catch!" Knockout called and threw a piece of scrap metal he did not need any longer in the air. It still was making him shiver hearing the noise the golden Scraplet made while devouring the meal in a matter of seconds and it also startled Breakdown, making him jump and missing the chance to hit the big bad golem so that Fave was scolding him now.

"What is going on in here?"

The three of them winced when realizing Starscream has entered sick bay without anyone noticing him. Sparks only tilted his head to the side innocently.

"When did you come in here?", Knockout asked confused, trying to hide the monitor together with Breakdown but it was useless.

"What?! Are you serious? Maybe you would have heard if not being distracted by… whatever is that?" he asked disturbed while pointing at the frozen screen displaying 'game over'.

"Don't tell us you never took a peek into some human programs", Breakdown asked, "everyone does, pretending not to."

The seeker snorted loudly. "I feel no need to waste my time with human means of entertainment. No offence Fave."

"None taken." She waved a hand but whimpered softly when she felt little pain rushing through it. Starscream noticed her reaction. "I though lord Megatron is taking it easy on you so that you can have training every day instead of waiting for you to recover every time."

"I guess he does but today I think I made him more furious than usual."

"Her wounds are healing fast, as usual, "Knockout shrugged off, then asked suspiciously: "Why are you here Starscream?"  
"We have detected a vessel with a Decepticon identification beacon on earth's surface. It seems it crash landed recently so lord Megatron wants us to investigate or better yet, bring one of our brethren to the Nemesis."

"If we detected the ship, the Autobots most likely did as well", Breakdown said with a grin, making his fists strike each other "we should join the party as fast as possible!"

"That's why I'm here, Breakdown", Starscream said, rolling his optics, "You and Knockout will join me and some Vehicons to investigate the crash site. Fave, you will join us as well but there may be indeed Autobots on site." He gazed on her with a firm expression. "Is that going to be a problem?"

She returned the gaze in puzzlement. "Why should it?"

Starscream raised one of his eyebrows lightly surprised, then shrugged. "Never mind. Transform at once and hurry up. We will leave right after you get dressed."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Starscream, Knockout, Breakdown and the few Vehicons accompanying them searched the large dark forest for quite some time now but there was still no sign of a vessel at all.

"This fog is starting to affect my systems already", Knockout complained, "the coordinates must be incorrect! If there has been a crash landing, we would have discovered something by now!"

Starscream was equally frustrated, so he reached to his COMM. "Soundwave, are you certain you provided us with the correct coordinates?"

The seeker only got static, which confused them all. "Soundwave? Do you copy? Starscream to the Nemesis?" He waited but no one answered. "Is anyone receiving me?"

"My COMM isn't working either", Breakdown growled, "The vessel must be around here somewhere after all, scrambling communication."  
"Agreed", Starscream turned towards his troops, "We will split to cover more ground. Breakdown, you will lead the Vehicons. Knockout, you are with me. If anyone finds something, we shoot an energon blast towards the sky, so we may find one another. If we find nothing, we shall meet within an hour right here. You there! "the seeker pointed a digit at one of the Vehicons, "You will take flight and return to the Nemesis. Brief lord Megatron on the situation here."

The Vehicon nodded, transformed and sped away while Breakdown left with the rest of the troopers.

Knockout grabbed his prod tighter and followed Starscream deeper into the wood.

"Why would anyone activate a scrambling node after a crash landing? Nobody would be able to find the crash site yet alone to come to the rescue. Something is wrong."

"We will see", Starscream said with an unusual expression on his faceplates, "I hope Fave remains covered as I instructed. A shame we did not take her with us after all. Her COMM may be down like ours but she still has another mean to contact our ship."

"Soundwave", Knockout nodded, "maybe she tried to contact us as well by now and thus contacted him after realizing the COMM went down."

"Maybe, but we do not know for certain."

"Maybe we should go back to where we left her for guard duty to BE certain."

"No", Starscream decided, "she will be fine on her own. If she were in danger, she would have drawn our attention somehow by now. However, we do not know who we are dealing with and you do remember how we reacted to a human among our ranks the first time, right?"

Knockout giggled. "Yeah, we should tell the newbie about her in a gentle manner first before …

Knockout got distracted when Starscream powered up his blasters all of the sudden. "Do you hear that?", the seeker asked.

Knockout listened closely and nodded. "I hear the roar of an engine close by. And since we just left Breakdown and the others quite some time ago, it can only belong to the Decepticon we are looking for…"

"…or to an Autobot", Starscream clarified. He took point and gestured to the medic to follow him slowly. They approached the sound of revving engines again and again until they got close enough to have a visual.

"Ready your prod, Knockout", Starscream chuckled, aiming silently for the Autobot on site who seemed to be in distress, being held back by something that looked like webbing of sorts. The seeker shot.

Arcee, being freed unexpectantly, bumped into the closest tree and shook her helm in dizziness. However, it did not deter her from piping up with obvious panic in her voice. "What has taken you so long? Doesn't matter! Arachnid is here! She is chasing after Jack, we must hurry to…"

She froze when realizing she was facing the readied blasters of Starscream and the electrical prod of Knockout, both with a menacing grin.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Jack couldn't run any longer. He was exhausted and worried out of his mind for Acree's safety. Arachnid may have said she would leave the femme alone so that she could witness his death first before being killed herself but what was the word of a Decepticon worth? Nothing! He jumped over a fallen tree and hid behind it, seeking cover and trying to calm down his strongly beating heart. Did he throw her off?

His heart skipped a beat when he heard several peds on the ground, getting closer. How could he possibly believe to evade the giant spider? But maybe she would just pass him by, overlook him if he simply remained silent enough. So, he tried not to make any noise, not to move and even not to breathe and it really was a miracle that he remained silent even when a giant spider leg dug to the ground right before him, followed by the rest of Arachnid's chassis. The Decepticon slowly sneaked away over him, hissing silently in excitement like a hunting dog who was trying to pick up a scent. He already wanted to sigh in relieve but the femme stopped suddenly. Seconds passed with only silent calls of distant owls to be heard. Then, Arachnid bowed her head abruptly and stared right at the boy who cried out in horror.

"There you are, my Jack!", she chuckled darkly when Jack hastened to his feet and ran away again. "You are making this too easy!"

But even Arachnid's patience has run low, so she chased after the boy, enjoying how she made the boy tremble in desperation. Being exhausted from the haunt and too afraid to think straight, Jack turned around to see how far the spider was behind and thus stumbled over a root. He fell to the ground hard and crossed his arms before him in a useless attempt to defend himself. Arachnid's laughter echoed through the air but suddenly, blaster fire hit her in the side, taking her off guard and throwing her into the dark wood in a high arch.

"Arcee!" Jack cried out in great relieve, expecting to see his partner but facing a well-known but nevertheless differently-looking young woman instead.

"I hate to disappoint", Fave said while helping him to his feet hastily.

"You! What are you doing here?"

"No time to explain", she cut the boy off while looking over her shoulder with worry, "I need you to run!" She pushed him a little. "RUN!"

She grabbed his arm harshly and started to run. She has been able to overpower the giant spider only because she has not been expected but she did not want to expose herself to more danger for Starscream will have her head if finding out that she left her post after she has spotted the boy in the forest, followed by Arachnid.

The young woman reached for her earring. "Starscream! I may have found the one we were looking for though I strongly suspect she will not be coming with me if I kindly ask her to." She waited a moment while running as fast as the boy was able to.

"Did you just call Starscream!", Jack said dumbfounded, "what on earth…"

"Schht! Quiet!", she shushed the boy angrily, "Starscream, respond!" She frowned. "Knockout? Breakdown? Where the hell are you guys!"

Both humans heard the roar of the enraged Con, chasing after them and getting closer fast.

"Scrap, this will not do!", she looked around but found nothing to be an appropriate hiding place. Reluctantly, she prepared to take flight although she did not want the boy or anyone else to know about any of her abilities.

"Do not let go, do you understand?! Hang on to me tight!" The poor teenager could not even start to comprehend what she was about to do when she wrapped her arms around his chest from behind and jumped. She rushed passed the trees for a while to get some distance between them and Arachnid and then intended to speed away sky high when a sudden burst of energy was fired into the air, hitting a Vehicon that way not far from her position who obviously intended to take flight as well. She stopped right at the height of the treetops and watched the trooper fall limb from the sky.

"What was that?", she whispered in shock and ducked back. That energy was nothing like the energon blaster fire she was used to, but it blew the unfortunate Vehicon off course nevertheless, disabled him even. Jack tried to say something, but Fave covered his mouth in order to silence him when she heard the female Decepticon pass them on the ground right below them. They remained like that until some time has passed and silence returned to the dark foggy forest. She sank back to the ground and released the boy from her grip.

"Starscream", she tried again but much quieter this time. "In case anyone is receiving me: someone or something is hiding in the wood. I just saw how it blew one of the Vehicons from the sky. Be cautious! I…"

"Ehm, Fave…"

Not Jack but the sound of weapons powering up startled her, making her spin around. They were surrounded by humans and it took only a moment for Fave to recognize them… as MECH.

"You! That's unexpected", she stated with hardly suppressed rage in her voice, "I strongly advise you to lower your weapons at once or else I will feel forced to inflict pain on you." She stared them down. "I will not retreat like the Autobots did."

She noticed how Jack swallowed hard, but she did not know whether it was because of her words or due to the dire-looking situation. "You will not be warned again."

Of course, she knew they were in danger. These men must have been following Jack the whole time, so they most likely have seen her flying and firing at the Decepticon earlier. Thus, they knew of her abilities and because she has seen a Vehicon falling from the sky like a pretty shooting star only minutes ago she was quite sure MECH somehow knew about cybertronian weak spots as well. These weapons were most likely able to incapacitate her, regardless of her new dress or skills. She had to move quickly.

First, she passed Jack in a flash, faster than the men could follow. She grabbed the boy and dashed him quite some distance away, out of danger, hoping that she did not break any bones.

"Run!" She cried at the youth.

"Open fire!" one of the men shouted and suddenly the air was filled with an electrical crackle which made a shiver run down her spine. She hoped both, to be able to hold them off so that Jack could escape and to make them shoot long enough for Starscream and the others to locate her in this firework. She moved from one spot to another, using fallen trees and rocks to hide behind them but unfortunately, there were far too many attackers at once to evade them all. Eventually, one shot found his way to its target, bringing her to her knees and making her cry out in pain.

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Why do I have to carry her!", Knockout huffed, "She is scratching my finish! Breakdown will have to buff me for hours when we return!"

To captivate Arcee, they had to knock her out together for she has been desperately trying to get away from them in order to save her human appendage from the Decepticon called Arachnid. Right now, her wrists were tightly bound within clamps and Knockout was carrying her limb shape over his shoulder plating unceremoniously.

"Stop whining, would you!", Starscream retorted for what he believed to be the fourth or fifth time, "Just imagine lord Megatron's joy when we bring him an Autobot! He will be more than pleased but right now we do not have the means to transport her to the Nemesis. So, stop complaining. It's not like she is particularly heavy."

Knockout rumbled deeply but complied by changing the subject. "Do you know this Arachnid, Starscream?"

"I do, unfortunately", the seeker answered with a grave voice, "believe me, you will not like her. She is arrogant, devious and repellent. But, truth to be told, she once has been a loyal servant to our master and very talented in… extracting information from whomever she interrogated."

"Hm, right now she seems to be indulging her new passion: hunting humans. I would be delighted if not for a particular recent member of…"  
"I know", Starscream cut the medic off harshly. "We must find her before Arachnid gets the chance to lay her filthy hands on Fave first. But with the COMM still down, we will have to do so the old-fashioned way." The seeker stopped and looked up. "Or maybe it is time to search the area from above."

"You cannot leave me alone!", Knockout contradicted him, "I have no means to contact you in case of emergency! Breakdown is gone as well! Above all, you can't possibly leave me alone with an Autobot!"

"You mean with one single chained and defenseless Autobot with no means to call for backup?" The commander raised his eyebrows in amusement, "I think you can handle…"

Both of them jumped back and Knockout even dropped his prisoner to the ground that way when they stumbled over the Vehicons Starscream has sent away for scouting with Breakdown earlier. The medic examined one of them right away and sighed. "They are ok, but something has hit them pretty hard. It will take a while until they regain consciousness." The red mech looked around, suddenly raising his voice a bit. "Where is Breakdown?!"

The two Decepticons looked after their brute but there was no sign of him anywhere.

"Is that Arachnid's doing?" Knockout asked through clenched teeth, "because if that's the case…"

"That was not Arachnid", came the weak voice of Arcee who was coming back to her senses again, "that was MECH."

Starscream scowled at her, displeased by her awakening, but asked nevertheless: "MECH? What is MECH? Tell me immediately!"

"Fave already told us about them, Starscream! Those technology hunting freaks who even attacked the Autobots and tried to remove Bumblebee's t-cog?"

"Ouh well! I like them already!"

"Idiot!" Knockout shouted at his commander unabashed, "that human scum might be gutting Breakdown as we speak! And what about Fave? What do you think they intend to use her for if they found her?"

Starscream growled angrily due to the medic's tone. "We will have to call for backup in order to erase them from existence!"

"Really?! You want to explain to lord Megatron how a bunch of humans were able to knock out a whole troop of Vehicons and capture our brute? What do you think he will tell us? What do you think he will do to us when learning about Fave being captured as well?"

Arcee has followed their verbal fight attentively, confused and frowning. "You do not have time to argue over that!" she interfered, "the COMM isn't working out here, you must have found out about that by now. In order to call for backup, you need to get out of the scrambling node's radius emanating from Arachnid's ship and by the time you did that, MECH will have Breakdown dismantled and…" she dared to add: "Fave interrogated!" Both Decepticons looked at each other quickly.

"I know the location of her ship!", the blue femme offered through clenched teeth, "I will show you on condition that you help me free Jack."

Both mechs rumbled reluctantly but they knew there was no other way right now. Starscream took the key to the clamp of their prisoner but before releasing Arcee, he warned her with a deep growl: "Take a good look at those, Autobot", he gestured to the Vehicons, "You will not be able to free your human pet on your own. So, don't even think about stabbing us in the back!"

If looks could kill…

"I am no Starscream", the femme retorted darkly as the clamp fell off her wrists.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave woke up with a groan. Her movements made her cellmate jump from his resting spot and hasting over to her. "Fave? Fave! Wake up. Are you alright?"

"Jack?" she said hoarsely, "Where are we?" She opened her eyes and realized the boy wasn't sitting next to her as expected, but standing behind the bars of his own little cell. She found herself in a similar predicament although the bars imprisoning her obviously were made from a more robust material.

"Are you alright?" she asked the boy who nodded.

"Yeah, so far."

She looked around slowly, exploring her surroundings. They must have been taken to one of MECH's bases which seemed to be one huge abandoned warehouse. One corner of the building was being used as a parking spot for vehicles and helicopters while the other side appeared to serve as the technical base of operation. MECH has placed a multitude of monitors there and many other strange looking equipment. It was all high tech, that much Fave realized but what really made her gasp was the mech pinned to the wall right behind those monitors.

"Breakdown?", she whispered confused, "Jack. What happened?"

The young man took a deep breath. "Right after you throw me what felt like a whole mile into the wood, I tried to run away to contact the Autobots. But MECH found me nevertheless and it seems they overpowered you too. They brought us here, to the edge of the forest. The Con has been brought here only minutes ago."

"I don't get it", she murmured, looking the blue mech over for serious injuries, but she has not been studying cybertronian biology nor did anyone told her to do so anyway, so she wasn't sure what knocked the brute out, "I mean: first you were chased by Arachnid who seems to be the one who crash landed earlier this day. At the same time, MECH is crawling through the same forest as we were like a bunch of Scraplets! This can hardly be a coincidence."

"It isn't."

The humans spun around. A man entered the warehouse and his soldiers closed the gates right behind him. He was a huge guy, dressed like a high-ranking soldier with scars all over his face. But the face was telling much more about him than the injuries. It was battle-hardened, strict and lack any sign of empathy or mercy.

"Silas!" Jack almost spat the name as if it had a terrible taste.

Silas ignored the boy and eyed the woman instead with fascination. "Fave, is it?" She gave him no answer, but dared to peek over to Breakdown, hoping he would jump to his peds suddenly and wreck this place.

"Don't worry, you are save from him. He will not be able to get up any time soon. Though, if I were you I wouldn't count on the Autobots either." He made a gesture to his soldiers to leave him with the prisoners alone.

"I must admit though, I did not expect the lure to work out this well but the appearance of the Decepticons forced me to change my plans. In my favor as it seems. Now I have not only caught the one I was looking for but a Bot to study as well.

The little time Fave has been spending with Decepticons and her ability to grasp tricky situations quickly provided her with a sudden revelation.

"You are working together with this Arachnid, aren't you! The Con wants Jack for some reason and you have been after Arcee to use her as a lab rat to learn more about cybertronian tech."  
Silas smirked. "Yes. And no. I actually used Arachnid's assistance to lure the object of my desires to me, but it wasn't Arcee I was after, but you."

Fave narrowed her eyes. "You used Jack as bait, regardless of what Arachnid might have done to him? The Con would have most likely killed him, you know that…"

"I hoped Jack would distract the spider creep so that we would be able to focus on our own goals. The Decepticon told us we could keep what would be left of the one called Arcee after she finished her, but I did not want to take any risks."

Fave started to shiver in anger. She let out a yell, transformed and intended to break free from the cell but the moment her energon blast hit the grids, an electrical crackle rushed through her cell, followed by an explosion of light and energy. She felt the same pain that tantalized her when the MECH soldiers attacked her in the forest earlier but this time, she held back another scream, wrapped her arms around herself and waited for the pain to ebb away. She felt a part of her energon reserves gone.

"Impressive", Silas stared at the woman with utter but unpitying fascination. "Whatever happened to you, it will surely provide me with the edge I need to execute my ambitious plan."

She hissed through clenched teeth. "What do you want from me?"

Silas moved toward her cell fearlessly. "I want to possess the means to be everywhere at once." He approached her and every step getting him closer to her was making Fave the more trembling in fury. "I want to be here and the next moment just around the globe. I wish for the possibility to access every region on earth, every building whenever I see fit or whatever my intentions."

Her eye's widened in realization.

"Imagine what could be done with that technology. Not even will I have control over an army of giant autonomous robots but the means to send them to whatever location at any time I want. I will pose a threat to everyone, to every country, to every government. No one would see MECH coming." The smile of a convinced fanatic spread over his scarred face. "I will dictate the new world order."

The wrath she had felt when she found out about the death of her beloved family was back again. Back then, she had been in desperate need of a face. A face to put all the hate and the blame on, someone she could hunt down and take revenge against. While being on the graveyard, kneeling in front of her family's remaining, those sick feelings have taken root into her soul deeply, poisoning her very thoughts but she has believed she has gotten passed that. She could not have been more wrong, and now she feared that new dark side of her even more as she spat out the following words.

"Just keep dreaming, Silas. Reality however will provide you with what you deserve." She looked him straight in the eyes and the wrath inside her made her own blue eyes glow brightly, coldly. "I will not cooperate. I will not spill any information about the ground bridge or any other things of interest to you. In fact, I promise you this: Someday, somehow when you won't see it coming…", she lowered her voice to a point only Silas could hear her and whispered dangerously, …"I will kill you."


	8. A face II

Arcee knew two things: One, she couldn't be sure of being able to pass by the MECH soldiers in the dense forest without having Starscream and Knockout as backup. Two, if they managed to find Jack eventually, the Decepticons will turn on her immediately!

But, as a matter of fact, she was left with no choice, so she continued to sneak forward, her blasters ready at any time. Be it for MECH or the Cons following right behind her. She took a little comfort in the fact though, that the two mechs seemed to be as nervous as she felt. They have seen a whole troop of Vehicons disabled by those dangerous humans, so they rather did not intend to underestimate them, especially when not having the possibility of calling for reinforcements.

Arcee suddenly powered up her weapons, making the Cons jump in surprise but it was only a wolf who passed them by, running away from the sudden noise startled.

"Pull yourself together, Autobot!", Starscream growled angrily, "Can`t you tell friend from foe? You're giving me a spark attack!"

Arcee huffed sarcastically. "There are no friends of mine in this forest beside Jack and I hardly believe he would be sneaking around me instead of simply revealing himself. It's not my fault you're this jumpy."

"I'm not jumpy! Just wary."

"Would you two stop bickering?!" Knockout interfered, earning a pair of scowling expressions, "anyway, where are you leading us? I thought we were going after these MECH bugs to free Breakdown. What does any of this have to do with Arachnid's ship?"

Arcee answered the medic while scouting the area further cautiously. "Do you think the crash of Arachnid's ship and MECH being on sight is a coincidence? Hardly! MECH has most likely pinpointed the crash site in an attempt to capture Arachnid and use her as a lab rat. But, obviously, there was no one home when they tried to pay her a visit."

"Because she was busy cocooning you instead", Knockout smirked smugly.

Arcee only rolled her optics at the comment. "Either MECH is waiting for her at the crash site or Arachnid returns to her ship eventually, with or without Jack." Her facial expression clearly displayed the hope it would be the last count. "In any case, getting to the ship is our best option to find what we are all looking for instead of wandering around aimlessly. The forest is too huge for that"  
"What if she already got to your human pet?", the red mech taunted.  
Arcee stopped abruptly and turned her attention to the medic, who winced a little at the sinister gaze on the femme's face. "If that is the case, I do not care what you need her for." She drew closer to Knockout until she was standing right in front of him. It didn't matter that she was much smaller than the medic, the red mech had to force himself not to back away. She let her blades appear and whispered dangerously: "I will tear her apart until there is nothing more left of her than bits and pieces for you to clean up."  
Knockout shuddered playfully. "You do hate the femme, don't you? Have a history with her or is it just because she is chasing after this Jack of yours?"

"She killed my partner", was the simple answer she gave the Con before she continued to walk.

The Cons looked at each other and shrugged. They couldn't care less for this partner surely must have been an Autobot, so one less for them to worry about.

"What if she got her filthy servos on Fave?" Arcee surprised the two of the mechs after some silence, trying to hide her curiosity.

"So?" Starscream asked.

"Oh, don't give me that scrap!" Arcee retorted, "don't try to pretend you do not care."

"I don't actually!" Starscream clarified angrily, "she is a human! I couldn't care less! Besides, she is not as weak as your pet humans are. She can defend herself."  
"Like your Vehicons did?" Arcee took point again, not even interested in the Con's reaction any more. She was getting more and more worried for Jack's safety and more and more confused about the woman's relationship to the Decepticons.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Sadly, pain was something she could deal with. Pain was what she has been used to for years. So right now, inflicting pain on her didn't help MECH to get their so much wanted answers.

Silas was trying it for quite some time now, getting more and more annoyed by Fave's resistance. Breakdown had regained consciousness before the interrogation began, but after demanding the bugs to let him go and after several failed attempts to free his pinned chassis from the wall behind him, he simply segued into growling and observing what was done to Fave, unable to interfere anyway. At least MECH didn't turn his attention to the brute yet.

She made no noise while another crackle of energy ran through her cell. She didn't want to give Silas the satisfaction on one hand and on the other: she didn't want to scare Jack. He had yelled and cursed enough already. When the crackle stopped she had to take deep breaths in order to stop her body from shaking. She was still on her knees, holding herself in a tight grip with her own arms and panted unsteadily, the blue glow of her eyes flickering.

"Enough." Silas ordered with a calm voice that betrayed his mood and the electrical crackle ceased completely. "I am impressed, Fave, I am indeed. But now, I got weary of this game. Allow me speed things along." He gestured to the cell, where Jack was still glaring at Silas. "If you do not tell me anything about how to operate the wormhole, I will kill the boy before your eyes."

Fave was prepared for this. In fact, she has been wondering what has taken him so long to put the boy's wellbeing into play. "If you killed him, Silas, you would not only draw the rage of the whole lot of the Autobots, Arcee in particular, which I believe would be devastating enough," she panted heavily but continued almost whispering hoarsely, "but you will also have nothing left to trade for your safe retreat, when, not if, said Autobots found you. It's only a matter of time and since you obviously won't trade me, you need Jack. If not for the Autobots, then to deliver on your end of the bargain due to the deal you made with Arachnid. She knows about your location, right? How long will it take for her to return here if not being able to track Jack down?"

Silas clenched his fists. He clearly underestimated the woman's intelligence even after being mangled for over an hour now.

"I will not kill him then", he smiled darkly, "inflicting pain will suffice as well."

Fave kept a straight face. "He will endure."  
"Of course I will", Jack emphasized firmly, "If that kind of technology fell into the hands of MECH because of me, I could never live with myself anyway!"

Fave looked back to Silas, imitating Knockout`s smug face. If she only felt that way! In fact, she was rather terrified to watch Jack suffer. She was bluffing so hard, she had to wonder how her poker face didn't waver!

It almost did, when Silas nodded to his soldiers and a similar crackled loaded around Jack's cell. He braced himself while Fave's eyes widened in horror. She looked mortified.

That terrible monster!

A smug smile now spread over Silas's scarred face, but it vanished as quickly as it has appeared when all of them could hear a hiss directed from the building's entrance. Jack's eyes widened in horror when not only two but several peds could be heard stepping on the ground, coming closer.

"You…", Arachnid hissed, then growled. "Here I am, looking all over for my Jack and you don't feel the need of COMMing and telling me you got him?"

Silas simply turned to the femme fearlessly. "We haven't heard from you since you left to destroy the blue Autobot. Knowing how much you wanted to get Jack as well, we caught him in the forest to deliver it to you after you accomplished to terminate Arcee."

"That is a lie!" Fave cried out, locking eyes to optics with the spider. At least she could try to make them turn against each other. "He wanted you occupied so that MECH could come after your brethren!"

"And you!" Arachnid eyed the woman awkwardly, "aren't you the HUMAN who SHOT me earlier using an ENERGON BLAST when I was most likely to get my servos on the boy? How intriguing!"  
Fave managed to get up from her knees, although weakly, hearing Breakdown humming appreciatively.

"Arachnid, is it?" the blue Con snarled then, "release me this instant! We have been looking all over for you! You are to accompany me back to our ship and explain yourself to our lord and master!"

Arachnid looked at the brute for a while, then hissed at Silas again. "You sure have been busy, Silas."

"The Decepticon shouldn't be your concern as you do not wish to join Megatron's cause anyway. Jack is yours, of course, as we agreed and…"  
An alarming sound emanated from the computers and a soldier reported immediately. "It is Arachnid's ship, Sir. There is an intruder on site."

Arachnid and Silas glared at each other but shoved their dispute aside for the moment as they both approached the monitor. In the dark, only one shape could be seen but it was small, considering cybertronian standards.

"Arcee", Arachnid mused, and she cackled even more when she heard a relieved sigh from one of the cells. She turned to Jack. "In this case you should enjoy the view from here so that you can see first-hand, on a live feed, how I snuff her spark! But don't worry. You will be next!" The spider however first turned back to Silas, addressing him in a warning tone. "When I return, I expect my Jack fully functional and not harmed in any way. As much as Arcee, … he is mine!" She lowered her helm close to Silas who did not flinch, "are we clear?"

"Like I said, we only kept him to hand him over to you."

"Get back here, Arachnid!" Breakdown hollered.

The spider ignored the mech and hissed one more time, then backed away from the soldier and left the hall in order to prevent her nemesis from tempering with her ship. MECH's leader waited a moment longer to be sure the femme truly was gone, then addressed his troops.

"Plans changed, gentleman. Make haste! Open up the Con, take a quick look and don't fear about making a mess. We will leave before the spider returns."

"What about them?" one of the men asked pointing to Fave and Jack.

"I don't want to be next on Arachnid's list", Silas clarified unamused, "we will indeed deliver on our end of the bargain and leave the boy here. The girl however, is coming with us." He looked at the woman and smirked due to her raged stare. "Whether she likes it, or not."

oooooooooooooooooooo

Arcee approached the crash-landed vessel with her blasters ready to shoot, hardly making any sounds while circling the ship cautiously to see if it was clear of MECH's or the sider's presence. If it wasn't for the dimmed glow of her optics, Starscream and Knockout wouldn't even be able to see her.

"I have to admit", Knockout sneered, "she is quite good. If only our Vehicons were just half the soldiers the femme is, we would have won the war a long time ago."

Starscream glared at the medic and watched the Autobot enter the ship and disappearing off their sight. "She is too good for my tasting. Not sure, if letting her investigate alone was the best choice."

"But yes!", the medic nodded fervently, "If there actually IS someone out there, either Arachnid or those bugs, she would be shot first instead of us. From my point of view, that is an advantage."

Starscream hoped that their hiding place at the edge of the clearing was indeed good enough. The seeker frowned even more, trying to hide his increasing nervousness the longer Arcee remained inside the vessel, when he realized the medic was watching him. "What?"

"About what you said earlier… "

"What about it?", the seeker huffed annoyed.

The red mech shrugged. "About leaving Fave to her fate."

"I meant it!" the silver mech snorted, "she may be sort of a sparkling to lord Megatron, but you know as well as I do, if there was the slightest chance to sever that sparkling-bond, he would not hesitate to deliver her into oblivion. Right now, she seems to be important or at least she poses a threat to Megatron's own wellbeing if something was to happen to her. That is the only thing that concerns me: keeping her safe in order to prevent myself from being beaten up again! Don't tell me you actually got attached to her already?"

Knockout intended to answer properly when the commander cut him off with a harsh wave of his servo. Someone has left the forest and appeared on the clearing and given the sound of several pedfalls, it had to be Arachnid.

"There she is", she seeker murmured.

"That is Arachnid?", the red mech almost chuckled but the seeker cut him off again.

"You would do well not to underestimate her. However, now is our opportunity to get to her before she gets to Arcee. We told the Autobot we would help her to find her human in exchange for her leading us to MECH so we could rescue Breakdown, but I don't think we need her, if Arachnid joins us as back up."  
"Or maybe, we should let them fight a little", Knockout pondered, "If the spider is as fierce as you are making it out to be, she should easily get rid of the femme and we could keep looking after our brute afterwards nonetheless!"

"Agreed", Starscream answered with a sneer.

So, they waited instead. Arachnid got closer to her vessel and circled it almost the same way the Autobot did before. When she finished, she simply stood in front of the entrance. She started to laugh darkly and taunted: "Get out there, Arcee, I already know you are here! Don't you want to hear what happened to your precious Jack? If you do not come out, I cannot report to you how I tore him apart!" She waited a moment but there was no movement, no reaction. The spider chuckled darkly. "You know, I had an interesting encounter with another one of your human pets. I must confess, I'm somewhat curious what you have done to her, but that doesn't matter anymore as well."

"You WRETCH!" came the roar from both, Arcee and Starscream, when they jumped out of their cover, simultaneously firing at the spider. Arachnid, not having expected the assault from behind, got hit in the back by one of the seeker's missiles. Arcee took advantage of the situation immediately, slamming into the black femme and throwing her to the ground that way.

Starscream approached the femmes, his other missile readily trained at the Decepticon, but the question burning on his tongue was uttered by the Autobot instead:

"How did you know I was here already? You couldn't possibly know if…"

"Starscream?", Arachnid hissed in pain and scowled at the seeker, "So, I'm gone to the Decepticon cause for only a few eons and there I find Megatron's second in command siding with the Autobots!"  
"Hardly!" she silver mech growled, "you do not know what you have done! Tell us where the humans are, right now or Megatron will have your head!"

The spider hissed again to hide her confusion but said nothing.

"Isn't that obvious", Knockout stated, appearing from behind the seeker with a frown, "If she had them killed already she would not only be bragging like this, but their lifeless bodies would be hanging from her servos as well to infuriate you Arcee."

The femme transformed out her blades and held them dangerously close to the spider's throat fuel lines. "You are not a victim to MECH as I suspected first! You have aligned yourself with them to get to me and Jack!"

"What a smart girl!" the spider cackled regardless of the blades starting to cut her throat, "Piece of advice? If I were you, I would reconsider storming MECH's base with them." She tilted her helm in a presumptuous manner in direction of the two mechs. "You sure know they will stab you in the back as soon as you get there and with Breakdown backing them up, you…"  
"Breakdown is there, too!" Knockout cried out, "you left him to those MECH guys!? Do you know what they even are?!"

"What can I say?", Arachnid chuckled but a sudden hit of Arcee's fist knocked her out immediately and the blue femme would have done far worse, if Starscream did not grab her arm to hold her back.

"What are you doing!" he snarled angrily, shoving her back, "Now she can't tell us anything! Just, congratulation to your self-control!"

"I know where they are", Arcee growled through clenched dentals and shook the seekers arm off, "I took a peek into her computer systems, like I told you I would, and found the scrambling node is not emanating from her ship but rather from another location close by. I did not know what to make of it until now. It must be MECH's base!" She looked down at the unconscious spider, trembling in fury. "If Jack's life was not at risk, I would tear you apart right here and right now." She rose her helm up at the mechs again. "What are we waiting for?"

oooooooooooooooooooo

Fave observed the soldiers around her as closely as the mech pinned to the wall, while Jack kept staring at the video feed displaying the crash site of Arachnid's ship. Fave however, did not allow herself that much. She had to focus on the situation at hand!

MECH showed impressive speed in packing and retreating. As soon as Silas has given the command, equipment and men almost mystically started to disappear and vehicles, grounded and airborne, have gotten readied. The only equipment that was not being touched was what appeared to be the dissection tools they needed to dismantle Breakdown, but they did not turn their attention to him yet. Just not yet.

Fave knew she was running out of time. If MECH succeeded to transport her to a second location, no one was going to ever find her anymore and she was just not ready to let herself get into captivity again so soon after freeing herself from her previous torturers! Never again, preferably! Thus, her spark skipped a beat when she noticed Breakdown to tamper with his cuffs. It was not easy though, considering he was under constant watch, but she could not start any diversionary tactic until the bindings start to break at least a bit!

She almost fell to the ground when she felt her cell being moved by a crane. It lifted her up, away from Jack's cell, making the boy flinch. Fave stopped wavering when the crane and the cell with it came to a stop on a truck's trailer.

"Afraid of letting me out of here, Silas?" she taunted but it was rather to get the MECH leader's attention than to really insult him. "Is MECH always treating his house guests this way or is it only your fear of a little girl?"

"You are not a common girl", Silas mused, untouched by her words, "but rather a precious science object to study. And precious things should always be locked away and watched closely. They tend to disappear otherwise."

She heard a sudden crack and reacted immediately. To cover the sound Breakdown has caused by working on his bindings, she powered up the energy inside her, eliciting a similar crack out of the cage she was trapped in. The electrical surge rushed through her body and she whimpered loudly at the pain.

Silas got closer to the truck, looking up at her with mild amusement. "I advise you to stop resisting. We already figured it drains much energy from your body and because we do not know what makes you run yet, we would not be able to keep you alive if you run out of your power source."

Fave growled loudly through clenched teeth and when she heard another crack again, she simply powered up even more, causing the cage to adjust its amplitude along with her. She kept looking furiously at Silas who returned the gaze rather unamused now. "Stop it!"

Regardless of her aching body, Fave managed a scornful grin on her face. "I… told you already", she hissed, her voice getting more hoarsely by the second, "I will… never… give in!"

"You will achieve nothing but to weaken you to a state that will make you most vulnerable to my plans!", Silas huffed, "Stop it right now!"

Another loud crack, an earsplitting shattering sound of metal torn to pieces was all Fave needed to actually stop resisting. Breakdown roared enraged and started to rampage the place by transforming out his hammer and slamming it to the closest tech station, taking down a few MECH soldiers by the way. Fave shivered. How could she be that cold suddenly? She focused on herself the best she could and found her energon level has dropped to a dangerous low. She quickly buried her face in her hands and stayed still, hearing the boy's shouts though.

"Fave! Fave, are you alright? Fave! Woaaah!" Jack, though being safe for the moment, raised his hands before him when a MECH soldier slammed against his confinement.

"I'm going to crush you bugs!" Breakdown snarled, his hammer hitting monitors, vehicles and men, and crashing into the wall of the warehouse he has been restrained to only seconds ago. "Whoever finds you will have to scrape you off the floor when I'm done with you!"

"Regroup!" Silas shouted at his soldiers, "Get him back under control, NOW!" Silas also scowled at Fave, who remained curled in tightly on her knees. Good thing he has thought about a separate power source for the cage, otherwise it would have turned off by now due to the energy loss that triggered a power failure in the warehouse right now.

Breakdown was about to storm forward and crash the cage Fave was sitting in motionlessly, freeing her to get back up but suddenly his frame got shaken by a hit from one of those lights-off-switching weapons MECH has constructed to disable cybertronian systems. Several electrical crackles ran through his chassis at once and the brute hollered angrily. He managed to swing his hammer once more, destroying the dissection equipment and squashing a handful of MECH soldiers under him when his shape finally stopped shaking and crashed to the ground hard.

"Damage?" Silas asked with his still buzzing weapon in hand.

"Emergency power went online almost immediately", one of his scientists informed him," but our dissection equipment is ruined. We do not possess the means of studying him before leaving this place and actually I strongly recommend leaving. Except for the Bot, we will be ready in less than 10 minutes."  
Silas let out a small growl, but nodded. "Hurry up, then. The girl will have to suffice for now."

Saying that, he again turned his attention to Fave who lifted her head weakly, but the resisting gaze has not left her face, even now. "It will be up to her then. To tell us what she knows about our alien guests. I believe…" Something hit the entrance of the warehouse, making it sound like a giant knocking at the door. "What NOW?", Silas shouted angrily, getting into position along with his trained soldiers and readying his special weapons. Fave tilted her head in a confused manner, while Jack grinned. During the chaos Breakdown has caused along with the woman, it slipped everyone's attention what has happened at the crash site except for Jack.

"ARCEE!" he yelled and a second later everyone could hear the femme's roar when the entrance buckled and started to give. The soldiers simply raised their weapons, awaiting the assault.

"Be careful!", Fave cried out, "their weapons can disable your systems! About twenty of them are right behind the entrance and a dozen more over… AHHH!"

Silas scowled at her and activated the electrical surge to emanate a constant crackle in order to silence the woman. This time, she didn't have enough strength to muffle herself and let out a pained yell.

Another hit and added blaster fire dashed the doors into the warehouse and another kind of chaos took place. The soldiers fired their weapons at Arcee, who jumped in first, transforming into her alt mode and driving at Jack's cell hard while avoiding being hit by the electrical crackle. Only when she almost got to her human counterpart, she transformed back and lashed out in an attempt to shatter the cell.

"Jack, get down!" she cried, and the boy threw himself on the ground immediately. "Starscream, Knockout, NOW!"

While the boy's cell broke like a child's toy under Arcee's blow, said Decepticons rushed in right after the femme.

"I hope you don't mind a little ruckus", Knockout's cackle sounded through the warehouse, but he stopped cold when seeing Breakdown laying on the ground motionless. "What have you scum done to him!"  
Starscream reacted similar about seeing Fave, who has silenced herself immediately and made visual contact with him right after the seeker got in sight. Of course, it had been only nanoseconds, but it was enough. Seeing her on her knees, trembling in agony with her optics flickering due to the surge running through the cell something inside the silver mech which has been gone for eons reached the surface and almost exploded.

"You..." he growled dangerously low and lashed out with his bare claws and by that destroyed several vehicles which were about to attack the mechs. He made a quick step forward and transformed his servos into blasters, bringing down further vehicles and men alike simply by squishing them under foot before he shot hot plasma to bring down more MECH soldiers. Arcee, while pretty occupied herself with protecting Jack and her own chassis, was stunned not only due to the seeker's sudden wrath but due to his fearless and precise assault as well. Where was the mech that usually avoid getting himself in the line of fire?

"You will let go of MY SEEKER AT ONCE!"

Starscream turned around and fired one of his missiles in direction of where they have entered MECH's base so to shoot a helicopter which was trying to target them with his weapons. Another cry eliciting from Fave made him turn around to a soldier who has intended to reach the truck with Fave's cell on it.

"Starscream, watch out!" Fave warned but her voice was too hoarse, he couldn't hear her. The seeker yelled when one of those tiny guns hit him eventually before he could crash the cell and free the woman.

"Starscream!" she would have shouted in shock, but her voice was not more than a whisper. She has not been exposed to the surge this long in a row before but above seeing who has fired at the commander she felt like freaking out.

Knockout tried to get to Breakdown, making MECH guys jump out of the way when the red mech waved his surgical saw enraged. Arcee was still busy covering her appendage but still tried to provide cover fire for the mechs. They have not anticipated that amount of tight security. She tried to call for back up frantically but the COMM lock down was still active.

Starscream tried to get back to his peds but failed to do so. Instead, he started to fire his blasters on the men while located on the ground, simultaneously locking optics with Fave.

"Shatter it!" he ordered, "Break yourself free this instant!"

Fave looked up at him and yelled again, when Silas managed to hit the seeker again, disabling Starscream's transforming sequence und leaving him unarmed. Another pained yell could be heard from Arcee and Knockout who seemed to be in a similar distress.

Starscream saw Fave's optics flicker off again. "If you do not break free like right now, you will be drained of your energon completely and DIE!" he cried at her furiously. "SHATTER IT!"

Fave cried out and instead of saving what was left of her strength, she increased the energy, making the cell's systems buzz loudly.

"This will do nothing!" Silas laughed, looking around pleased. "This is even better than planned! Now that the spider seems to be knocked out and with the lot of you at our disposal, We will get all the information we need and more. It won't take long to…"

The crackle sounded oddly all of the sudden, and the cell started to spark violently.

"Sir! The systems are beginning to overload!"

"That is not possible!" Silas yelled.

"I will NOT allow you to keep me prisoner!" Fave whispered as loudly as she could. "I will NOT give you any information and I will most certainly NOT allow you to hurt ANY of THEM!"

"Retreat!" Silas commanded angrily but MECH did not have the chance to react quickly enough when a powerful explosion dashed all of them away, into the walls, into vehicles and Bots and into each other. It dashed away humans and Bots alike and made the warehouse tumbling down with a loud cave in.

"A shockwave?" Starscream murmured quietly to himself after coming to his senses again quite a distance away from what was left of the warehouse, astonished but the aftereffects of the many electrical surges that have hit him still kept him from moving. Through the dust, he spotted Fave's optics, her fully glowing optics, telling him more than her following shout.

"We're here, Soundwave!"

Two ground bridges opened, both at once. One in the middle of where the warehouse used to be seconds ago and another one just outside of it. The dust from the explosion was still in the air when Decepticons and Autobots ran out of the whirls simultaneously, powering their weapons and targeting each other. Soundwave has come on his leader's behalf which was a rarity.

It was quiet for a moment while both sides looked for their comrades and tried to assess their possibilities. It was Bumblebee, who spotted Arcee first covering Jack under her chassis but the yellow mech dared not to move before Optimus gave the command, but he bubbled in relieve when the blue femme got up slightly, revealing that Jack was ok so far as well. Knockout was laying close to Breakdown, but he was coming to his senses as well while Starscream even got to his peds but unfortunately, he was not far away from the Autobots, so he dared not move as well.

"A textbook example of a stalemate", he hummed lowly and it truly was one. While Bulkhead has trained his blasters at Starscream, Bumblebee never left the Vehicons out of his sight. Arcee quickly added her own blasters to the picture, pointing them at the Decepticon medic and, to their jointly surprise, at Fave who was standing on her feet weakly not able to stop herself from trembling. Starscream barely managed to hold in a growl. Optimus noticed Arcee's doing but didn't comment it as he was pointing his own weapons at Soundwave, the silent mech returning the curtesy.

All Bots, no matter the faction, looked at each other cautiously for a while but the silence did not last long.

"Soundwave", the Prime looked at the surveillance officer fearlessly, "this can only end in mutually assured destruction or in retreat. I suggest the latter. Allow me to retreat with Arcee, Jack and Fave and I give you my word that we will not open fire."

The Decepticons all powered up their weapons in unison.

"I will not be coming with you", Fave clarified firmly, looking up at the Prime who seemed thoroughly surprised. Even more when Arcee confirmed: "I assure you, Optimus, she will not be coming with us." The femme looked over to Starscream with a frown, who seemed utterly ready to jump at anyone who dared to approach the woman. Seconds passed, and it was not until Arcee lowered her blaster that has been pointing at Fave, but not the one targeting Knockout, that the mechs started to move slowly, Optimus the first to show good will. Fave's eyes lit up in a silent conversation with the silent mech and shortly after he lowered his weapons as well.

"Ratchet", Optimus COMMed his medic back at base, "reopen the ground bridge."  
The command has been executed and the bridge opened just behind the Autobots. Bumblebee moved slowly to Arcee, still on guard and ready to fight if necessary. He helped the femme to her peds and picked up Jack as well, backing away from the scene and leaving quickly through the swirl. Knockout got up too and dragged Breakdown in direction of their own bridge with the help of two Vehicons while Starscream moved closer to Fave, not leaving the remaining two Autobots out of his sight. Bulkhead looked at Optimus who nodded and thus, the wrecker left next. Optimus gazed at the woman for another long moment who returned the gaze firmly before he left last. The ground bridge closed and the Autobots were gone.

The swirl barely disappeared when Fave growled deeply, irate, and huffed with a hoarse voice: "They're gone again!" she looked in direction of the warehouse, where it has been before she blew the place sky high. "I swear, If I get… my… hands… "

She felt a violent tremble coming up again together with a wave of nausea and she wavered. She felt being caught by the seeker and found herself in his servo.

"Let me down, Starscream, "she said weakly, "you know I don't like being carried around like…"

"You will have to endure", he snorted, following the other Decepticons who already started to leave. "You just caused a shockwave in your already weakened state. I don't want to explain to lord Megatron that you have been drained off your left energon by walking back to the ship."

Fave lifted her head up and looked the commander over. She wanted to ask what has happened to him and Knockout, what made them align themselves with Arcee, what they have done to Arachnid and what just happened and what he meant by 'shockwave'. But another, simpler question came to her mind and she was not ashamed of asking it.

"Are you ok?"

Starscream was baffled. He even stopped walking for a fraction of a second and frowned at the tiny human in his sharp claws. Claws, that could easily tear her to pieces and he wouldn't have hesitated to do so not long ago.

Not knowing how to react otherwise, he refused to look at her and rumbled lowly: "Why wouldn't I? I am Starscream, second in command and fearless soldier! It takes more than a small blow to take ME down! Nonetheless, just try not to scrap us all unintentionally next time, will ya?"

oooooooooooooooooooo

"Arcee, what has gotten into you?"

Optimus was standing right in front of the femme while Ratchet looked her over for serious injuries. The Prime stared down at his soldier, both, confused and firmly. "I expect a good explanation to why you have pointed your weapons at a defenseless human."  
"Fave is anything BUT defenseless, Optimus!" Jack interfered, "she blew Arachnid off me and managed to evade her by **flying** me and herself out of danger until MECH found us."

Bumblebee whirled and asked Jack to confirm if he just said 'flying'.

"And the condition you found us and MECH's base in?" Arcee huffed, "that was her doing as well. She blew the warehouse by emanating a shockwave, Optimus."

"HA!" Ratchet retorted in disbelief. "A shockwave!? This cannot be. Of course, I have seen her shooting with energon with my own optics, before she left our base some time ago, but I highly doubt she could perform something that even we have not been able to since our home planet went offline."

"What do you mean?", Miko piped up, "you once could create a shockwave? All of you? How cool is that!"  
"Not all of us, Miko", Arcee clarified, "most of us had once additional… abilities. But they ceased working shortly after Cybertron went dark. We do not know why but since then, we do not have access to that power anymore."

"Maybe Cybertron is more than just a home to you guys", Jack speculated, "maybe the link to your home planet runs deeper than that."

"And because Fave is a human who has grown up on earth" Raf added, "and with earth intact, she has access to additional abilities."  
"As if linking herself to cybersystems isn't enough!" Ratchet scowled.

Optimus's frown only deepened while he still waited for an answer on the side of Arcee.

"She is one of them", she answered finally, ignoring the faces of disbelief," I am not even talking about her behavior."  
"By using ME as a hostage for example?" Miko scowled.

"Or by leaving our base in order to get back to the Cons as it seems," Jack continued.

"Scrapping ground bridge controls which I have to tinker with for days!" Ratchet ended.

Arcee nodded and explained further. "It is how Starscream and Knockout talked about her as well. Especially Starscream tried to hide it but you should have seen him when he entered MECH's base and found her trapped and tortured." The femme shook her head while remembering. "I never saw him this way. He all but rampaged the place."

Jack helped his partner: "And when I was running through the forest with her, she called him and the other Cons for help."

"About that", Arcee looked around her comrades. "The COMM link was down the whole time. How did you manage to find us eventually?" When the Bots did not answer right away, Arcee got impatient. "What?"  
Ratchet finally turned to his console, checking his readings again before answering the femme. "It seems that Fave told us the location. Whether she intended to do so, I do not know, especially after what you and Jack just told us. She has sent a high frequency distress signal, that got our attention."

"That must have been when Breakdown broke free!" Jack shouted in surprise, "she got down to her knees because of another electrical surge, at least that is what I though was happening. She hid her face from Silas, when the Con started to rampage the place before he got shot again. There was a power failure for a few seconds, that was when she must have used the breach to send the distress call!"

"If it were only seconds, she may have had no time to adjust the signal so that only the Cons would receive it", Bulkhead speculated, "she sure isn't familiar with her newfound abilities yet, right?"

Bumblebee whirled loudly, saying that she may have as well sent the SOS intentionally to enable them to save Arcee and Jack.

"That is something that bothers me, too," Arcee said confused, "where did she get those abilities to begin with? I mean, she is drinking energon like Miko does her sodas and fires energon like we do with our weapons…"

"She is capable of transforming!", Jack stunned them, "I saw it before she flew off with me."

Bulkhead sighed: "That too! She can fly!"

There was silence for a moment until Ratchet jumped suddenly, startling the team.

"By the Allspark!"

The medic rushed back to his working station while the rest of the Autobots and the children looked at each other as if the red mech had lost his mind.

Optimus hummed gently. "What have you discovered, old friend?"

"Do you remember the distorted signal back in the desert?", he asked, "Where we first saw her AND Megatron? The signal was doubled but we didn't pay much attention to that fact back then. I have even begun to think it to be a malfunction." Ratchet turned to his comrades again. "When Fave was here, she asked me about why Bumblebee's life signal is not equal to Optimus's. But… how is all of this possible!? No, it IS NOT possible!

"What, Ratchet? What!" Arcee urged the medic.


End file.
